Helping with Action Plans

15 July 2016 | Updated 01 January 1970

Elmhurst Energy has received approval from the Scottish government to accredit the new Section 63 advisor and Display Energy Certificates (DEC) assessor roles.

Elmhurst reports it was first to be approved to accredit assessors and has successfully run Section 63 training courses with more scheduled at a number of locations in Scotland.

New legislation that comes into force in Scotland on the 1 September 2016 will require owners of non-domestic buildings, i.e. over 1000sqm which are eligible for an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for sale or rent, to have an additional assessment carried out; the resulting document will be known as an Action Plan.

It will contain improvement measures designed to achieve the energy performance target and emissions target for the building. Certain buildings will be exempt from this legislation including those which meet or exceed the energy standards from the 2002 Building (Scotland) Regulations or later.

In some situations Section 63 Advisors will be required to produce more than one EPC and more than one Action Plan for a given building. In other cases accredited DEC assessors are required to produce DECs on an annual basis.

A Section 63 Advisor will be required to:

Explain the background to and the application of, the relevant legislation and be able to advise building owners of any exemptions from the legislation.
Familiarise themselves with the building in question (if they have not already done so through EPC production).
Verify any existing EPC for the building to ensure it is usable for further assessment or produce an EPC.
Produce an Action Plan and agree improvement measures with the building owner which will be most beneficial to the owner or occupier and still achieve the energy performance and emissions targets shown on the EPC.
Lodge the Action Plan on the Scottish EPC Register.
Where the owner opts to carry out improvement measures, a new EPC is produced and lodged upon the completion of the measures in order to record the status of the improved building. A new Action Plan is also produced and lodged confirming the improvement works that have been carried out.

Picture: Section 63 assessors will need to be accredited Non Domestic Energy Assessors and undertake specialist training to produce an Action Plan

Article written by Robin Snow | Published 15 July 2016