ANOTHER SHAMBLES...
Date Posted: 8/4/2008
Another Shambles In The Making!
Like other commercial surveyors, I was mildly amused by last year’s debacle of the HIPs (Home Information Packs) as we watched our residential colleagues struggling to grasp this ill conceived half baked idea. We smiled at the continuous delays and government dithering as to whether or not to cancel the scheme and then we chuckled at the subsequent face saving exercise of bringing HIPs in in phases dependant on the number of bedrooms.
However, the smile is now wearing thin, as commercial surveyors are having to face up to the fact that one of the component parts of a HIP, the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), will soon be required for the construction, sale or rent of commercial and industrial buildings.
The phasing of the measures is provided below:-
From
6 April 2008
EPCs required for the construction, sale or rent of non domestic buildings of over
10,000 sq m
From
1 July 2008
EPCs required for the construction, sale or rent of non domestic buildings of over
2,500 sq m
From
1 Oct 2008
EPCs required for the construction, sale or rent of all remaining non domestic buildings.
There are a few exceptions, e.g. places of worship, temporary buildings, barns, etc.
An EPC will show the energy rating from Grade A (the best) to Grade G (the worst) in just the same way as you see the energy efficient ratings displayed on fridges and washing machines.
An EPC will be needed when a building is sold or let to a new occupier but not initially when it is re-let to an existing tenant. The certificate will be valid for 10 years.
Whilst it is not a bad idea to identify the energy ratings of buildings, there is just one fundamental problem. It was only in mid-January (less than 3 months before the system starts) that the government announced which organisations (12 in total) had their approval to run the accreditation schemes to train the required energy assessors. So it is apparent that there are still no accredited energy assessors able to produce the required EPCs as the training schemes have only just started.
The new legislation is to be enforced by local building control and trading standards of the local authorities and they too have been waiting for the assessor authorisation scheme to be announced.
Ah well, if myself or one of my commercial clients get locked up in a few months time for failure to comply with this new legislation at least we will have the satisfaction of knowing that a few rapists and murderers have been let out to free up the prison space for us.
UPDATE - JANUARY 2009
Like waiting for a bus, we have now received approaches from about twenty separate EPC assessment firms all looking for business and offering their services. Any commercial property that is put on the market now has to have an EPC to comply with the law.