What colour is your building?
October 1st 2005

The greener the building, the cheaper it is to run - as will be apparent to everyone from next year, says Alan Aldridge, executive director of ESTA

There has been a lot of discussion over recent weeks and months about when exactly the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive - with its requirement for energy performance certificates - will be implemented. This has obscured the fact that it will come into force and that it offers big opportunities for energy managers in terms of ‘greening' their buildings.

The Directive will require all buildings to have an energy performance certificate when they are bought, sold or let. In public buildings (and there are moves to extend this to all large buildings) this certificate will have to be on public display. The certificate will grade buildings in bands from A to G and it will look something like those already seen on fridge/freezers, washing machines and, this year, new cars.

So building owners and operators will have the opportunity to have a literally green building - one with an A rating. However, many will get a shock when they find that theirs is a D or E rating - moving to the red, ‘danger' end of the scale. That poor performance rating is going to be a disadvantage when trying to let or sell properties. This is because a D rated building, for example, of about 1000m2 will have much higher energy bills than one that is B rated.

In fact, ESTA calculates that it will cost at least £10 000 more each year! Remember also that that figure was arrived at before Hurricane Katrina closed down many of the oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and pushed oil prices higher still.

In addition, the range of potential tenants or purchasers will be smaller for more profligate offices. The Government has said it will only use buildings rated A or B. More energy consumption means more carbon emissions and many of our larger companies are now increasingly concerned about this issue - some that are in the Emissions Trading Scheme will be looking at high performance offices as a way to reduce their liabilities.

The other side of this issue is that by improving energy performance through more efficient equipment, better insulation and better management of energy, building owners can save thousands of pounds a year and can make their properties more attractive propositions to potential buyers and tenants.

Many people are still unaware of the new obligations that will follow from this Directive, though - and final decisions are still being made on the exact regulations over the coming weeks. For this reason, ESTA is running a series of free, one day conferences in the lead up to implementation that will explain to energy managers just what the obligations - and the opportunities - are. The conferences will be held in four locations around the country during the second half of October so they will be accessible to organisations across Great Britain.

Speakers from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), which has responsibility for introducing the legislation, will outline the exact requirements, while energy supplier Gaz de France will discuss how energy buyers can deal with the volatility of the current market. A series of clinics by ESTA members, including the Energy Controls Group and energy services provider Cofathec, will help delegates address specific issues to do with the changes arising from the Directive and the new Part L of the Building Regulations.

The conference is entitled What colour is your building? It is designed to help delegates understand - and comply - with the legislation, improve their buildings' ratings and reduce energy costs, as well as providing guidance on the best procurement options.

Attending the conference should help energy managers make their buildings greener than they are today.

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