Recent News - New compulsory energy certification

The certificates show the energy efficiency rating of the building’s heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation systems as well as benchmarking it against similar properties.

The certificates are a legal requirement for any commercial transaction involving the construction, sale or rent of all commercial buildings and are being introduced according to the following timescale:

6 April 2008: all commercial buildings with a floor area greater than 10,000 square metres

1 July 2008: all commercial buildings with a floor area greater than 2,500 square metres

1 October 2008: all other commercial buildings

Certificates can only be issued by members of an approved accreditation scheme.

Rushton International has entered into a joint venture with Freeman Property Services to create FPS Rushton Energy Consultants and now have a team of accredited energy assessors providing energy certification for both private and public sectors.

New Display Energy Certificates for public sector buildings

In a related development, all public sector buildings such as town halls, leisure centres and libraries must have a Display Energy Certificate by 1 October 2008.

These certificates show the building’s actual energy usage based on fuel and power consumption benchmarked against other buildings of its type. They must be renewed annually and displayed in a prominent place open to the public.

They will be supported by an Advisory Report showing ways of improving energy performance.

Other affected buildings include:

• NHS Trusts
• Schools and colleges
• Police stations
• Courts
• Prisons
• MOD

Again, Display Energy Certificates can only be issued by members of an approved accreditation scheme.

A special note on registered social landlords

All Registered Social Landlords will require Energy Performance Certificates for all their housing stock with effect from 1 October 2008.

This includes all local authority, housing association and private residential landlord buildings in England and Wales as well as student halls of residence.

With our strong team of energy assessors we are in an excellent position to support large scale housing asset managers in their strategic planning and delivery of the new EPCs by the 1 October 2008 deadline.

The FPSs Rushton Energy Consultants solution

FPS Rushton Energy Consultants bring together the joint forces of Freeman Property Services and Rushton International to provide a national solution to your certification requirements under the new regulations.

All members of the team come from a building surveying background and have conducted a minimum of ten supervised EPCs before being allowed to work as an independent assessor.

All members work to the RICS Method of Measurement Code of Practice and all are supported by our in-house CAD specialist team.

Following certification, we can provide advice on ways to improve your rating and, we believe of much greater significance, identify and manage a programme of energy efficiency improvements on your behalf to secure long term savings on the running costs of your property.

For more information

To find out more about the new regulations and how FPS Rushton Energy Consultants can help you meet your legal requirements, please call us on 0844 824 6020 for a free, no obligation discussion. We will be pleased to advise you on all aspects of the new system and provide a free illustration of the costs of assessment and certification for your buildings.

www.epcconsult.com