ALL COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS SHOULD
HAVE ENERGY RATINGS, MINISTER TOLD
Tuesday 29 March 2011
The UK Green Building Council has issued a report calling for the mandatory display of an A to G rating for the energy efficiency of all non-residential buildings as early as 2012, in a move which could see an upsurge of growth in the energy assessment industry.
The organisation said the measure, to drive efficiency, cut costs and encourage refurbishment, should be introduced as part of the Energy Bill, which is currently going through Parliament.
‘Display Energy Certificates provide both an ‘at-a-glance indicator’ and detailed technical information on the energy performance of buildings’, said UK-GBC, which was set up by the last government in 2007 to provide direction for sustainability and carbon reduction in the building sector.
Recommendations in the report, launched at an event on 29 March with the Communities and Local Government Minister Andrew Stunell MP (right), include detailed proposals to implement a practical roll-out, and are the result of an in depth consultation with a cross-section of UK-GBC members.
Key recommendations include:
1. Display Energy Certificates (DECs) should become mandatory for all non-domestic building occupiers, with a phased roll out starting in 2012.
2. Landlords should also be required to display certificates showing the energy efficiency of the services they provide. Landlords must pass data to occupiers; this should be based on the Landlord’s Energy Statement (LES) which has been developed by the private sector.
3. DECs should be used to produce a range of publicly accessible league tables based on occupiers, landlords, sectors, buildings types and uses. This could replace the current Carbon Reduction Commitment league table for those organisations in the buildings sector.
Paul King, Chief Executive of the UK Green Building Council said: ‘If you want to go on a diet, you first find out how much you weigh. The property sector urgently needs to go on an energy diet but to do so, it has to be able to accurately measure and report on its energy use. Display Energy Certificates do exactly that and should be rolled out to all buildings as soon as practically possible.
‘There is a window of opportunity to do this in the Energy Bill currently going through Parliament. A to G ratings for commercial buildings will provide a reputational driver for both landlords and tenants to take energy use more seriously, leading to carbon and financial savings.’
British Land, a UK property investment organisation, was one of the sponsors of the report. Justin Snoxall, Head of Business Group at BL, said: “DECs can play a significant role for the carbon agenda in non-domestic buildings, both to influence market change and to unite policies. The Government DEC experience in buildings since 2008 has produced numerous examples of year on year reductions in energy.
‘In many cases public exposure of energy performance has motivated action. The opportunity is to replicate these successes in the private sector to influence future letting requirements of occupiers and to encourage greater action by occupiers and landlords together. DECs also have the potential to underpin the Government's other climate change policies from CRC league tables for buildings, to GHG corporate reporting, to the Green Deal and possible future fiscal measures.’
David Clark, a partner at consultants Cundall, who were another sponsor of the report, said: ‘Rolling out DECs to occupiers and landlords is an essential first step to reducing energy consumption in the private sector. Companies can collect energy data consistently and then benchmark performance against their peers. Government can use DECs to measure and refine the effectiveness of carbon reduction policies in the private sector.’