INDUSTRY COMMENT
MEES compliance – the BCIA’s call to action
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While the expected Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) regulations of 2030 are a few years away, these potential legislations should be a major focus for not just landlords and tenants but anyone working in the built environment. BCIA President, Stacey Lucas, says the time for action is now
aving previously been set for 2027, landlords of residential properties now have until 2030 to upgrade their buildings to meet Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) of C or
above. Consequently, many landlords are already feeling under pressure to get their properties up to the required standard in such a short timeframe. Building controls and automation can often
provide the solution. In fact, the installation of a smart and modern building management system (BMS) can help landlords and building owners improve energy efficiency without the need for lengthy and disruptive renovations. Offering the precise control and monitoring of heating, lighting, cooling and ventilation, a BMS will ensure that energy is only ever being used as and when it is required. Utilising predictive maintenance and occupancy scheduling, these innovative systems will help deliver significant energy savings while offering tenants full functionality and comfort. In addition, any data collected can enable landlords to identify further opportunities for improvement in the future. Understanding how their building is performing can help them to make more informed and better decisions about where to focus any efforts or investments. However, while building automation can be of significant benefit to landlords looking to cut down their energy expenditure and improve their EPC rating, there is a major gap in knowledge and understanding of the
benefits of BEMS. It’s therefore down to those in the building automation sector to increase understanding of just how modern building automation systems can be integrated effectively to save them money. Indeed, one of the biggest misconceptions of BMS is that it’s expensive. While upfront costs can be significant, they are massively outweighed by the long-term energy savings. In fact, the low up-front cost and short payback time means BEMS is an ideal way for landlords to achieve MEES compliance. A current ‘seven-year payback’ exemption to MEES means landlords are exempt if they can demonstrate the cost of installing a recommended improvement doesn’t meet a seven-year payback test. This means many higher cost energy efficiency measures, such as solid wall insulation, may be ineligible due to their long payback time. However, with an average payback time of 5.8 years and the ability to deliver up to 30% carbon and energy savings, BEMS are an ideal option for landlords looking to achieve MEES compliance. Furthermore, the ability to future-proof any building against the increasingly strict energy efficiency standards is even more reason for building owners and landlords to consider adopting building automation systems in their properties. As building services and environmental engineers, it’s important to work closely with building owners and landlords to help them understand just how using building management systems can help them to meet sustainability targets, including EPC
ratings. The BCIA also provides members and property owners with training and education programmes to help them understand not only the real capabilities and benefits of smart building automation systems but also how to integrate them properly. With MEES policy heavily impacting the building automation sector, it’s down to industry leaders and organisations, such as the BCIA, to work closely with the new government to ensure that the needs of the industry are represented in any policy decisions and developments. In fact, previous consultations by the government highlighted the need for a NABERS- style performance-based scheme that would see owners of commercial and industrial buildings above 1,000m2 required to report energy use and drive annual improvements in energy intensity. The result would be a target of a 30% reduction in 2030, compared to 2015 levels. If such a scheme was to be introduced officially in addition to the MEES regulations, this would be of great benefit to building owners and tenants. As a result, it is imperative that those both inside and outside of the industry are educated on the energy saving benefits of building automation. With that in mind, it has never been more important for those of us in the building automation sector and the built environment as a whole to pay close attention to the rapidly approaching MEES regulations and start laying the groundwork now.
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08/04/2024 15:29:49 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER SEPTEMBER 2024 11 21/8/24 13:21
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