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Energy Performance Certificate specialists
Professional EPC's
At what point is the Commercial EPC required?
On construction: The constructor gives the Energy Performance Certificate and Recommendations Report to the purchaser on physical completion of the building and notifies Building Control, who will not issue the Certificate of Completion until the EPC is provided.
On sale/rent: As soon as the building is offered for sale/rent the seller/landlord must make an EPC available to prospective buyers/tenants. The Energy Performance Certificate may be for the whole building or individual units, and completion of a contract should not happen without it. An EPC is required if the transaction has not completed before the implementation date above. Some multi-tenancy sale/rent scenarios are complex and you should seek advice from an accredited expert to determine whether an Energy Performance Certificate is required for the individual unit or the building as a whole.
On modification: The person undertaking the work is responsible for providing the Energy Performance Certificate and Recommendations Report to the client. They must then notify Building Control, who will not issue the Certificate of Completion until the EPC is provided.
The maximum penalty for non-compliance is currently £5k, enforceable by Trading Standards. The penalty notice also includes the requirement to produce a valid EPC.
A level 3 qualification relates to simpler,naturally ventilated commercial buildings with boilers less than 100kW and comfort cooling less than 12 kW in size.
A Level 4 qualification relates to more complex commercial buildings with mechanical ventilation and air conditioning, and boilers in excess of 100kW. It also allows the assessor to carry out new build assessments (the level 3 assessor cannot).
The Cost:
Due to the individual nature of each and every Commercial EPC assessment, it is unlikely to be possible to give an estimate of cost without a site visit, in all but the simplest of cases. The vast majority of enquiries will be quoted after a meeting on site to establish size, complexity and information available.
Information which will be necessary for the correct assessment process and subsequent Commercial EPC or DEC to be generated includes the following:
- Energy usage data (bills and breakdowns, metering and sub meters)
- Site information (plans etc)
- Plant records and drawings (operations and maintenance manuals etc)
- Dates of building construction changes and U values of construction materials/composite assemblies
- Fan efficiencies
- Chiller performance
- Lighting performance
- Air pressure performance of entire building
- Air pressure performance of air conditioning ductwork
Lack of the any of the above will inevitably lead to a greater information gathering comittment for the energy assessor or team of assessors, and will increase the cost. Conversely, where multiple EPCs are required at one property (ie sub units), economies of scale can be negotiated where a single or reduced number of visits is applicable.
The following types of building do not require an Energy Performance Certificate:
- Places of worship
- Stand-alone non-dwellings less than 50 m2
- Temporary buildings with a planned life less than two years
- Industrial premises with low energy use where the space is mostly not heated or cooled (such as process and heavy engineering workshops and stores with localised work-station conditioning)
- Buildings to be demolished within two years
