It must be the sub zero temperatures, howling winds and talk of economic depression but this year is already feeling like it will be a glass half full one. Some articles I’m receiving from experts on the upcoming introduction of Energy Performance Certificates for the Building Sustainability channel deepen the gloom. Roger Watts offers a perspective on the history and the future of EPCs in an article that appears in the Building Sustainability channel today. It makes for rather disturbing reading.
One wonders sometimes whether there can often be a cry wolf tendency when change is on the cards. I’m thinking of examples such as the Millennium bug when overly shrill and panicked predictions led to, well, nothing really. However, Watts puts over a convincing case for concern over EPCs, from the delayed introduction to concerns over training and the technology that will be used. Another expert I spoke to last month spoke of SBEM, the system that will be used for certificates on bought, sold or built buildings, as "hugely complicated" which runs the risk of confusing people and as a result throwing out wildly varying results. "The Government should arm themselves for some bad press," the expert I spoke to added.
The comparison with the rollout of Home Information Packs last year, which included energy performance certificates, is spooky. A parliamentary select committee report released today castigated the government for its "poor preparation" of Hips which led to delays and to a lack of inspectors. Shadow housing minister Grant Schaps said today:
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