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Building tenants ‘should be
required to obtain a DEC’
● Report calls for mandatory Display Energy
Certifi cates for commercial tenants
Occupiers of commercial buildings should be required
to obtain an energy certifi cate, while landlords should
produce a Landlord’s Energy Statement for the base
building, according to an industry working group.
The proposal comes in a report, backed by CIBSE,
that was due to be published by the UK Green
Building Council (UKGBC) as the Journal went to
press.
The report’s recommendations aim to plug
potential holes in future plans to extend mandatory
Display Energy Certifi cates (DECs) to commercial
buildings (see story opposite).
Large commercial landlords are in favour of this
extension of DECs, but they are concerned that a
single DEC for a multi-tenanted building will not
provide any incentive for individual tenants to reduce
their own energy use, according to the UKGBC.
The report says that landlords of multi-let
commercial buildings bigger than 1,000 sq m should
be required by law to obtain a Landlord Energy
Statement (LES), which at present is a voluntary
£20M SCIENCE PLAN
A planning application has been
submitted to create a £20m
sustainability science scheme
at Newcastle University. If
approved, construction on the
24-acre site will start in 2012, with
completion expected in 2014.
Multi-disciplinary consultancy
Mott MacDonald has been
appointed as civil, structural and
building services consultant.
process for detailing energy use and carbon
emissions from offi ces.
LESs could be merged with DECs to provide
explicit information that could be specifi ed for each
individual tenant, says the UKGBC.
It’s senior technical adviser, Anna Surgenor, said:
‘A lack of suitable energy data at present means that
many multi-tenanted buildings get a DEC rating of G.
Having the means to provide a more accurate, possibly
higher, rating is a good incentive for energy reduction by
landlords and their tenants.’
Detailed information on energy use would also
enable better comparisons of types of commercial
tenant. This would mean that companies could be
more easily grouped together in league tables that
are due to be brought in by the Carbon Reduction
Commitment Energy Effi ciency scheme (CRC),
said Surgenor.
‘Trying to compare different sectors in the CRC is
like comparing apples and pears. We need to be able
to compare companies with their peers, which the
combination of LESs and DECs would help us to do.’
Andy Ford, CIBSE president-elect, said: ‘There is now
a clear industry consensus around making more use of
DECs to identify potential energy and cost savings.’
In Brief
NEWS
NEW DAWN FOR SOLAR BODY
Two solar energy trade bodies
are to join forces to form a
400-strong association. The Solar
Trade Association will combine
with the Renewable Energy
Association’s Solar Power Group
to represent both the solar
thermal and the photovoltaic
industries. It will operate
from the same offi ces as the
Renewable Energy Association,
which will provide adminstrative
functions and policy expertise.
www.solar-trade.org.uk
CAMBRIDGE ECO-SCHEME
Plans for ‘one of the most
sustainable developments in
the UK’ have been announced
in Cambridge. Architects
working on the North West
Cambridge development are
planning a central energy
facility that will use gas to
generate power and heat for
the surrounding homes. The
site, in the north of the city, will
include 3,000 homes, 2,000
student units, a supermarket
and a primary school.
CARBON SIMULATION TOOL
The Department for Energy and
Climate Change has launched
an online simulation site
aimed at allowing the public
to explore ways in which they
can cut their personal carbon
emissions. My 2050 has been
funded by the government
and Sciencewise-ERC, the
UK’s national centre for public
dialogue in science and
technology issues.
http://my2050.decc.gov.uk
www.cibsejournal.com April 2011 CIBSE Journal 11