As part of its contribution to the international effort required on climate change, the Scottish Government has committed to achieving an 80% reduction in Scotland’s emissions by 2050 and a 42% reduction by 2020 through The Climate Change (Scotland) Act. Section 63 of the Act requires regulations to be made for:
· the assessment of the energy performance of existing non-domestic buildings and greenhouse gas emissions from such buildings; and
· for building owners to take steps to improve the energy performance of, and reduce emissions from, such buildings.
These regulations came into effect from 1 September 2016. They apply to larger buildings, those with a floor area of more than 1000 m² and are triggered by either sale or by lease to a new tenant. Generally, owners of such buildings also require to provide a valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) in such situations. Buildings that meet energy standards equivalent to those introduced by the 2002 building regulations (these buildings are already reasonably energy efficient); or are already improved via a Green Deal (a UK Government funding mechanism) are exempted from the regulations.
Where the regulations apply, the owner of the building must undertake further assessment to produce an ‘Action Plan’ which identifies targets for improvement of the carbon and energy performance of the building and how these targets would be met through physical improvements to the property. Once an Action Plan is finalised, the owner can choose to improve or to defer the improvements by reporting operational energy ratings (actual measured energy use via a Display Energy Certificate or ‘DEC’) on an annual basis. All Action Plans and DECs are lodged to the Scottish EPC Register.
As is the case with an EPC, the Action Plan must be made available to prospective buyers or tenants and provided to the new owner or tenant. Provision of the Action Plan is all that is required to enable marketing of the property. Building on the existing EPC assessor role, the Action Plan will be produced by persons also registered as a ‘Section 63 advisor’, who have demonstrated competence in the assessment procedure and the provision of improvement advice to building owners.
