Friday 16 February 2018
A fifth of commercial properties' energy efficiency standards have fallen ahead of new legislation arriving in April.
Software firm arbnco says around 20% of commercial real estate, worth a total of £130.7 billion, has fallen into a lower Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) category ahead of the introduction of the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES).
These will enforce minimum efficiency levels across the UK's residential and commercial private rented sector.
More than a tenth of all E-rated properties have dropped to an 'F' or 'G' rating, meaning they are categorised as being at risk of becoming sub-standard.
The re-simulation was carried out on the 3,620 buildings currently registered with arbnco's EPC platform.
The tool calculates the energy required to heat, ventilate, cool and light a commercial property over a 12-month period.
Simon West, Director of arbnco, said: "MEES has been on the horizon for a long time now but the statistics from our re-simulation tell us that some commercial real estate investors and subsequent stakeholders are still not heeding the warning.
"Those who are in the 'F' and 'G' categories have less than two months to ensure compliance or else risk impacting the capital value of their assets."