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Legal Update: Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme

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    EVORA

Changes to Scottish Energy Performance in Building Regulations

Publicity surrounding the introduction of Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES), which set a minimum EPC rating of E for leasing of properties from April 2018, has increased significantly in recent months, and rightly so. However, the Scottish Government has chosen to implement a different approach to drive energy performance improvement in buildings.

The Scottish Government has released guidance on the practical implementation of Section 63 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 relating to the energy performance of existing non-domestic buildings.

The regulations, which come into force on 1 September 2016, require the production of a building specific energy Action Plan on the majority of buildings offered for sale or lease, which exceed 1000m².

The Action Plan, which is based on the output of Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) assessments, must be prepared by an approved Section 63 Advisor. Existing EPC assessors will need to complete further training and development to become approved advisors.

The Action Plan will identify appropriate measures to reduce energy consumption. Official guidance also indicates that the area threshold (currently 1000m2) is likely to drop over time. Following completion of the Action Plan, building owners will be responsible for either the reporting of annual energy use (in the form of a Display Energy Certificates (DEC) in England and Wales) or the implementation of physical improvement measures within a 3.5 year period.

Our EPC assessment team is already working to ensure it can provide Section 63 Advisor support.

Click the image to download this article as a handy one-page flyer.


For further information on regulations and requirements please contact Paul Sutcliffe: [email protected] or 07557 529 104.

Further information is available on – http://www.gov.scot/section63


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