Calls for more inspection certificate prosecutions

The Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) has announced that it plans to launch a campaign to call for more buildings to have their energy performance certificates checked and for more prosecutions of those who fail to produce them.

The announcement follows the CIBSE’s concerns over an apparent fall in the number of air conditioning systems assessments taking place.

The latest figures obtained by the CIBSE from energy services companies show a significant fall in the quantity of new inspection contracts placed during the last few months, despite the fact that tens of thousands of the inspections which were required by January 2009 are still to be carried out.

All air conditioning systems with a cooling capacity of 250 kW were required to have been inspected by an accredited air conditioning inspector by January 2009, all air conditioning systems with a cooling capacity of more than 11kW must be inspected by January 2011.

The Institute fears that the fall off in inspection work contracts being placed could reflect a lack of awareness or perhaps willingness to comply with the inspection requirements of the Energy Performance in Buildings Regulations.

It is estimated that fewer than 1,000 buildings are compliant - less than 2% of the 50,000 in England and Wales thought to have required a first inspection by the January 2009 deadline. However, there is uncertainty over the exact figure of how many inspections have been carried out as there is currently no requirement to lodge certificates. A survey carried out by the Institution earlier in the year revealed that 30% of energy assessors estimated that just 0-10% of their clients were aware of the air conditioning inspection requirements.

Jacqueline Balian, Managing Director of CIBSE Services, said: "While we can, and do, keep trying to raise awareness among clients, we are aware that many Low Carbon Energy Assessors, facilities managers and other advisers find it difficult to persuade some clients to act unless there is clear and imminent danger of legal action resulting in a meaningful fine and damage to reputation.

"CIBSE will be mounting an awareness and enforcement campaign which aims to equip Trading Standards Officers to check that relevant buildings do have inspection certificates, and that they are minded to prosecute where such certificates are not available."

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