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Energy
Performance
Certification
for New dwellings.
From 6 April
2008 it became law to provide an Energy
Performance Certificate for all new and newly
built homes that are completed after that date.
An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) gives
information on the building’s energy efficiency.
The government introduced Energy
Performance Certificates (EPCs) in Northern
Ireland for all properties marketed 'For Sale'
on the 30th of June 2008. The legislation was
made applicable to domestic rental properties
from December 2008 and commercial premises in
January 2009.
What does this mean in practice?
If you are a builder, you
will most likely be working to the Building
Regulations that were revised in 2002 and
amended in 2006 and 2009. As part of this you
will be providing an energy rating to building
control for your new homes using SAP (Standard
Assessment Procedure).
For all homes that are
physically completed on or after 6 April 2008,
there will be a requirement to provide an EPC to
the owner, with evidence shown to Building
Control. If you do any building work to a home
which creates (or combines) a separate dwelling
that has heating, hot water or air conditioning,
then you will need to provide an EPC for the
home(s). When you finish your building work,
Building Control ask you to submit a notice
which includes an energy rating to demonstrate
your building complies with the Building
Regulations. By the same date on the notice, you
must get an EPC from an accredited On
Construction Energy Assessor, give the EPC to
the owner of the building and tell building
control that this has been done.
This is now a requirement
under the Building Regulations, Approved
Inspector Regulations and the Energy Performance
of Buildings Regulations. Building Control can
not give you a final completion certificate
until they are sure that everything has been
done.
Energy Efficiency and New Homes
In 2009, the Government in
England and Wales introduced new Building
Regulations which raised the energy efficiency
standards which new homes must meet. New homes
that are built to meet these regulations save
more energy, have lower carbon emissions and
cost less to run. In order to meet the Building
Regulations, builders need to make sure that any
new homes they build meet a minimum target for
energy performance.
Why do we need Energy Performance
Certificates?
Energy Performance
Certificates tell owners and potential buyers
and tenants about the energy efficiency of a
home and how it can be improved. The SAP rating
shown on the certificate is the same number as
is needed for Building Regulations but it is
shown in a format similar to the energy labels
that are now often used for many appliances and
cars. The Environmental Impact rating is also
shown, which shows how much CO2 the home is
expected to generate through its energy use. All
EPCs come with a Recommendation Report which
includes advice and suggestions on improvements
you could make to save money and energy.
The certificate also shows
the rating that could be achieved if all the
recommendations are followed. In the case of new
homes, you will get a shorter Recommendation
Report which contains more advanced energy
improvements such as solar panels. This is
because most money-saving improvements will have
already been included in the design of the home
(so the actual and potential ratings are likely
to be very similar). Providing information about
energy for homes that have not been built yet
(off-plan sales) If you are selling a home
before it has been built, you will need to
provide information about energy efficiency in a
Predicted Energy Assessment (PEA). This is
simply the predicted SAP and Environmental
Impact (CO2) rating from the SAP calculations
you do at the design stage, to check whether you
will meet energy saving targets.
How do I get an Energy Performance
Certificate?
By law, Energy Performance
Certificates can only be produced by an
accredited On Construction Energy Assessor.
The accreditation schemes
protect builders and potential homeowners by
making sure Energy Assessors have the
appropriate skills to carry out energy
assessments, and that EPCs are always of the
same high quality. So that they can produce an
EPC, the On Construction Energy Assessor will
need to use an approved version of the SAP
software. Energy Performance Certificates must
be registered and stored in the national
register at
www.epcregister.com with a unique
reference number. This must be done by the On
Construction Energy Assessor in conjunction with
their accreditation scheme. What happens if I am
not happy with the energy assessment or EPC?
If you are worried about any part of the energy
assessment or the quality or accuracy of the
EPC, you should contact the Energy Assessor in
the first instance. If the matter is not
resolved you should contact the accreditation
scheme of the energy assessor who produced the
EPC.
We offer a
professional SAP service for Part L1A & L1B of
the Building Regulations in England and Wales
and Scotland for new dwellings, conversions and
extensions.
All our SAP
calculations are produced by an accredited
Surveyor. We aim to produce the results within
2-4 working days of receiving all the required
information.
What
is SAP 2009?
The
implementation of the new building regulation
means that SAP is the only assessment available
for new dwellings.
The SAP rating
is based on the energy costs associated with
space heating, ventilation and lighting, less
cost saving from energy generating technologies.
It is adjusted for floor area so that it is
essentially independent of dwelling size for a
given built form.
The SAP is now
expressed on a scale of 1 - 100, 1 represents a
poor standard of high running cost energy
efficiency while a SAP of 100 represents zero
energy costs.
The
Environmental Impact Rate (EIR) is based on the
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
associated with the space heating, water
heating, ventilation and lighting.
Dwelling CO2
Emission Rate (DER) is similar to the EIR,
it is equal to the CO2 emissions per
M2 of the floor area and the DER is
used for the purpose of building regulation
compliance.
The
calculation is based on the energy balance
taking into account a range of factors that
contribute to energy efficiency.
Part of our service is
providing the U-Value calculations that
co-inside with the SAP calculations. We
offer advice to ensure compliance with Building
Regulations.
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