Project manager & renovation in Alby-sur-Chéran.

Alby-sur-Chéran is one of the few preserved medieval villages in Haute-Savoie. Its old centre, clustered around the place du Trophée and its arcaded houses, overlooks the Chéran gorges, crossed by the old bridge; the former shoemakers' town has kept its lanes, its colourful façades and its village scale. Around this historic heart, the town has grown through successive waves of housing estates and small residences, driven by an ideal location: the A41 junction puts Alby a quarter of an hour from Annecy and twenty minutes from Aix-les-Bains.

This dual identity shapes the local market. On one side, old houses full of character: terraced village houses, stone walls, timber floors, vaulted cellars, barns to convert — appealing but demanding buildings, where every intervention requires a thorough survey. On the other, detached houses from the 1980s to 2000s on the plateau estates, which are reaching the age of their first major renovation: insulation, heating, reconfiguration, extension. Added to this is strong demand from families looking to build or extend, drawn by the setting of the Pays d'Alby and the proximity of the Annecy area.

For all these projects, the sensible move is the same: entrust the design and management to a project manager who knows the area. Survey of the existing building, plans, permission applications, consultation of the trades, site supervision and handover: we carry your project from start to finish. Our Aix-les-Bains office is around twenty minutes away via the A41 — Alby-sur-Chéran, Chapeiry, Saint-Félix and Rumilly are among the areas we cover most directly.

Old house renovation is the signature request in the historic centre. Refurbishing an arcaded house or a village building means working with stone walls that need to breathe, floors that need strengthening, damp that should be treated with suitable renders rather than hidden, and openings whose rhythm contributes to the character of the street. We design these refurbishments with respect for the building — insulation suited to old walls, joinery that complies with the requirements, full upgrade of services to current standards — while bringing in today's comfort.

New builds and extensions are the other side of the Alby market. On the plots still available on the plateau and within existing estates, we design well-oriented, energy-efficient contemporary houses that blend into the village silhouette. For houses from the 1980s-2000s, a flat-roof extension or one continuing the existing volume, adding a storey or converting the loft lets you gain the square metres of a bedroom, a study or a master suite without moving — building permit and local plan (PLU) compliance included.

In every case, energy renovation is part of the programme: wall and roof insulation, replacing an old oil or gas boiler with a heat pump, ventilation, high-performance windows. As an RGE-certified company, we design these packages of work to maximise the grants available and treat energy performance as a component of the architectural project, not as a layer added afterwards.

Atelier NovAlp brings together three complementary professions: architect, project manager and RGE-certified general contractor. So you don't have to assemble a designer, an engineering firm and a dozen tradespeople yourself: a single point of contact designs, prices, obtains the permissions and delivers your project turnkey. This continuity between design and execution removes the grey areas between the parties involved — which is usually where delays, cost overruns and remedial work come from.

On the regulatory side, Alby-sur-Chéran falls under the Grand Annecy PLUiHD: heights, footprints, parking, the proportion of unsealed ground and colours vary by zone. The old buildings of the historic centre are specially protected: arcades, building lines, renders, joinery and roofs are regulated to preserve the medieval character of the place du Trophée and its surroundings, and the Chéran gorges area adds its own landscape sensitivities. We study the zoning regulations and heritage requirements before the first pencil stroke, so that we submit a compliant application first time.

Our RGE CertiRénov certification no. CR-2026-73-0095 (comprehensive renovation offer, issued by Qualitel Certification) is the condition for access to the main grant schemes: MaPrimeRénov', Energy Savings Certificates (CEE), eco-PTZ and local grants. We calculate your actual out-of-pocket cost and build these funding sources into the project set-up. Browse our services or our neighbouring pages: Annecy and Aix-les-Bains.