Legal HIP replacement
As home information packs are scrapped in England and Wales, Brussels agrees new revisions to a key European directive on building efficiency. Hywel Davies pieces the changes together
B
ritain’s coalition government kept its promise to end Labour’s home information packs (HIPs), which were required for the sale of dwellings. Duties relating to HIPs set out in Part 5 of the Housing
Act for England and Wales were suspended on 21 May ‘pending their outright abolition at the earliest opportunity’. As a result, in England and Wales, sellers and estate agents no longer have to hold or provide copies of HIPs. But the energy performance certificates (EPCs) that
formed part of HIPs have been retained. EPCs are, of course, a requirement of the 2002 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). Moreover, ministers will now also have to take on board changes recently agreed in Europe to ‘recast’ the EPBD. The changes were adopted by the European Council of Ministers and Parliament in May and published on 18 June. One implication of the changes is that an EPC will have to be commissioned before a dwelling is marketed: Article 12 of the recast requires that when a home ‘is offered for sale or for rent, the energy performance indicator of the energy performance certificate… is stated in the advertisements in commercial media’. This requirement in effect limits marketing activity before the EPC is available. It remains to be seen how the coalition government intends to addresses this change – but it does not need to do so until 9 January 2013, when Article 12 is implemented! The recast EPBD, in Article 27, also requires EU member
The UK will now have to take on
board changes recently agreed in Europe to ‘recast’ the EPB Directive
In the original EPBD, the UK secured an alternative to a requirement for compulsory boiler inspections: this involved an option to ‘take measures to ensure the provision of advice to users concerning the replacement of boilers, other modifications to the heating system and alternative solutions to assess the efficiency and appropriate size of the boiler.’ The proviso was that ‘the overall impact of this approach shall be equivalent to that arising from the [inspection] provisions’. The recast EPBD offers this approach for air conditioning inspections. We wait to see how this might be applied, especially with ministers’ emphasis on ‘reducing burdensome red tape’. There is evidence to demonstrate the cost savings delivered by thorough air conditioning inspections. Far from being burdensome red tape, properly conducted air conditioning inspections save on public spending, cut energy use and reduce carbon emissions. The recast may also affect the way refurbishment is covered in the Building Regulations. Article 7 requires refurbished buildings to meet the energy performance standards for new buildings,
states to introduce ‘penalties [ for] infringements of the national provisions’. Such penalties must be ‘effective, proportionate and dissuasive’. CIBSE and its partners in the Non-compliance Costs Campaign, are seeking an early view from government on its plans to introduce such penalties, and pressing for this to happen well before the 2013 deadline. Given the lack of enforcement of energy certificates
at present, the revised air conditioning inspection requirements in the EPBD revisions are also interesting.
24 CIBSE Journal July 2010
at least insofar as this is ‘technically, functionally and economically feasible’. And Article 8 requires EU member states to set minimum energy performance requirements for heating, hot water, air conditioning and large ventilation systems to be installed in existing buildings. ‘Intelligent metering systems’ are also required. These requirements must be set by January 2013 for the public sector, and July 2013 for the private sector. In Building Regulations Part L, Approved Document
L2B covering refurbishment of non-domestic buildings will probably also need to incorporate these minimum requirements in 2013. This could be a significant evolution
in standards for building refurbishment. l For the text of the EPBD recast, visit
http://eur-lex.europa.eu and select ‘Access to European Law’
Hywel Davies is technical director of CIBSE.
CAMPAIGN CHARTER 1. The UK government must acknowledge that air conditioning inspection compliance is not working and must move the responsibility for enforcement away from trading standards to a body that is more interested and able to act. 2. The government must set targets for air conditioning and F-gas compliance that the enforcing body agrees are achievable and will sign up to. 3. The government must improve communication with UK companies informing them of their obligations to comply with air conditioning inspection and F-gas legislation.
www.cibse.org/ noncompliancecosts
www.cibsejournal.com
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