Appropriate the most appropriate Commercial Energy Performance Assessors for your needs with our invaluable journal entry.The MEES been vital to providing a clear incentive to upgrading the energy efficiency of the country’s existing building stock, helping businesses to save money on energy bills, and reduce their carbon footprint. However, the initial iteration of the standard only required properties to meet an EPC rating of E when they are up for lease, or when their existing lease is renewed. Under the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), of 2008 all commercial property in the UK, over 50 sq metres in size is required to have an Energy Performance Certificate (Commercial EPC) upon construction, or prior to sale or lease of the property. An EPC, also known as an Energy Performance Certificate, is an indication of how energy efficient your home is. The UK government is committed to demonstrating the importance of having a good EPC score, by providing property owners with benefits, guidelines, and minimum standards. Landlords cannot grant new tenancies or continue to let via existing tenancies if the property has an EPC rating of F or G. All domestic landlords are required to comply with this if their property is legally required to have an EPC and is an assured, regulated or domestic agricultural tenancy. EPCs are a consequence of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), which was enacted in the UK as Part 5 of the Housing Act 2004. An EPC measures the intrinsic energy efficiency of a building and rates it against a pre-determined benchmark on an A to G scale. EPCs come with a Recommendations Report identifying areas where improvements could be made. They are valid for 10 years. The UK was the first major economy in the world to legislate for Net Zero emissions by 2050. This will involve a radical shift in the way energy is used. Policies such as the £2 billion Green Homes Grant launched in September 2020 aim to improve the energy performance of homes and decarbonise the heating source, enabling warmer homes.
Knowing that you are staying within the law all comes down to one document - your energy performance certificate (EPC). But what exactly is an EPC? EPCs measure how energy efficient your home is and are an essential part of marketing your property for sale or rent. Each EPC is valid for 10 years, however, you can have your property reassessed at any time. During an EPC inspection, several recommendations to improve the energy efficiency will be identified. Implementation of these could not only increase your rating and reduce carbon emissions but also save money on energy bills. It is up to you whether you implement the recommendations or not. As from April 2018, landlords in the private rented sector need a minimum rating of E for their rental properties. Failure to meet this standard could result in fines so must be avoided at all costs! Tenants have the right to make improvements to the energy efficiency of the property, with the permission of the landlord. From April 2020, these regulations will also apply to all ongoing assured tenancies in existence. If your Energy Performance Certificate expires, you are not automatically required to get a new one. You will only need to get a new EPC if you intend to let to a new tenant, or wish to sell the property. Once an EPC reaches the ten-year point and expires, there is currently no automatic requirement for a new one to be commissioned. A further EPC will only be required the next time a trigger point is reached, i.e. when the property is next sold or let to a new tenant. You may be asking yourself how does a
epc commercial property fit into all of this?
Understanding Mees Regulations Commercial PropertyEven those who do not intend to sell properties can potentially benefit from knowing what the EPC rating of their home is. EPCs can indicate the energy efficiency improvements that could be made on the property, how much they will cost, and how much money could be saved from energy bills by making the improvements. Installing LED light bulbs is a quick and cost-effective way to improve your rating. If your property's EPC is hovering between E and F, it may only require switching from old-fashioned incandescent or halogen light bulbs to LED bulbs to raise the rating by a point or two. EPCs let you know how energy efficient a building is and give it a rating from A (very efficient) to G (inefficient). EPCs tell you how much the building is likely to cost to heat and light, and what its carbon dioxide emissions are likely to be. From 1st April 2020, landlords who rent out a property with an EPC rating of F or G can now face a civil penalty of up to £5,000 for non-compliance with the government’s new Domestic Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) regulations. The extent to which your EPC will affect your house price is determined by where the rating sits on the scale, and where you are in the country. For example, in London improving your EPC has much less effect than in the North East. This is linked to lifestyle differences and property prices, which vary between different areas. Conducting viability appraisals with respect to
mees is useful from the outset of any project.
For a building to fall within the requirement for an EPC it must have a roof and walls and use energy to condition the indoor climate. Services considered to condition the indoor climate are the following fixed services: heating, mechanical ventilation or air-conditioning. Although the provision of hot water is a fixed building service, it does not condition the indoor environment and would not, therefore, be a trigger for an EPC. The main way to increase your energy efficiency rating is to make more environmentally-conscious choices around your home. Steps such as upgrading to LED lighting, choosing a more energy efficient boiler or installing double glazing all help towards making your home kinder to the environment, and ultimately to your pockets, too, in the long run. There are many things that can affect your EPC rating, but it's worth knowing that your rating has more to do with your property than your lifestyle. With the UK having the leakiest homes in western Europe, it's quite hard to achieve an A-rating. You may not waste energy, but if your home is poorly insulated, or if you have no heating, or old electric-only heating, your EPC rating may be lower than you expect. Lighting accounts for 12% of a household’s electricity use21 and more efficient lighting is a recommended measure on EPCs. Though previously eligible under the CERT (Carbon Emissions Reduction Target) supplier obligation scheme, recent government programmes have focused on gas savings rather than the electricity savings delivered by efficient lighting. From April 2018 UK legislative changes in the Energy Act 2011 bring Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) Legislation into effect. The changes to the Act will make it unlawful for commercial landlords to sell, let, lease or sublet properties in England & Wales with the two lowest EPC ratings of F and G, subject to certain exemptions. Formulating opinions on matters such as
commercial epc can be a time consuming process.
Dynamic Simulation Modelling ServicesAn EPC can help you identify if a property is likely to have high energy bills - in fact the certificate features an estimated energy use and fuel costs for the property. A lower EPC rating could also indicate that the property may be harder to keep warm, having an impact on how comfortable it is to live in. The current energy rating given on the EPC is based on the features of the house was built and any subsequent energy efficiency improvements undertaken eg, additonal insulation. The accompanying recommendation report lists any additional cost effective measures that assessor has identified to further improve the energy efficiency of the house. By carrying out these additional cost effective measures you can achieve your potential energy rating. To achieve the UK’s Net Zero Carbon target by 2050, the Government will be tightening the EPC regulations over the next few years in hopes that it will encourage enough investment to improve energy efficiency and better behaviours all-round. Residential property rented out for the purpose of a holiday do not require an EPC. An EPC is required though when the letting period to the same person is for 12 weeks or more. Once a commercial EPC is complete you will receive 2 documents, the EPC itself, which is valid for 10 years, and a recommendation report which gives advice on how to improve the rating of your property. The advice on the recommendation report is produced automatically by the software, and the assessor then removes recommendations that are not suitable for your property, and may add other recommendations that they judge to be more appropriate. The advice on the recommendation report is fairly generic. Research around
non domestic epc register remains patchy at times.
While energy efficiency measures in diverse sectors show potential to deliver health and well-being improvements, measures targeting buildings are often easier to verify. Energy efficiency retrofits in buildings (e.g. insulation retrofits and weatherisation programmes) create conditions that support improved occupant health and well-being, particularly among vulnerable groups. The government wants to ensure that all new rental properties have an EPC rating of at least a C by 2025 or 2026. This is not yet law, but looks likely to become so soon, so it’s something to bear in mind when buying properties or upgrading the ones you have. If a building is designed or altered for use as separate accommodation, each part may require its own EPC. A single or multiple EPC depends on the type of heating system in place or future plans for the property. MEES will not apply to commercial buildings that do not require an EPC, for example, industrial sites with a low energy demand, places of worship, small standalone buildings (total floor area of less than 50 square meters) and temporary buildings. An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) sets out the energy efficiency grade of a commercial building. Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are required when a commercial building over 50m2is built, sold or rented. There are two grades of buildings under the EPC requirements which relate to the complexity of the building being assessed and will affect the type of EPC assessor you will need. There are many options available when it comes to
mees regulations in today’s market.
How Long Does It Take To Get An Epc Certificate?The SAP energy rating has been devised as a simple and easy to understand method of measuring the overall efficiency of a property. It is the Governments recommended system for producing a home energy rating. It is used to demonstrate compliance with Building Regulations for dwellings part L1A, calculating the (TER) Target Emissions Rate and the (DER) Dwelling Emissions Rate the DER must be equal or better than the TER to show compliance. Achieving a balance between regulatory targets, voluntary standards and support measures is necessary to achieve the decarbonisation goals of the building sector set under EU policies. The EPC is the only mandatory policy instrument that is embedded in EU Member States’ policies and widely known by end-users. The energy performance of a building is shown as a carbon dioxide (CO2) based index. Each energy rating is based on the characteristics of the building itself (the fabric) and its services (such as heating, ventilation and lighting). Hence this type of rating is known as an asset rating. The asset ratings will reflect considerations including the age and condition of the building. Unearth further intel on the topic of Commercial Energy Performance Assessors in this
UK Government Portal web page.
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