The previous government's failure to enforce its own environmental legislation was hugely damaging to the building services industry and its clients, says HVCA president Graham Manly.
Gordon Brown's government did a great job of passing legislation to tackle carbon emissions from buildings and refrigerant leakage, but then failed miserably to enforce it. Now, in the fresh spirit of co-operation and the optimism surrounding our new coalition politics, we urge the new administration to do better.


There has been widespread flouting of the Energy Performance in Buildings (EPBD) and the F-gas Regulations despite the fact that the majority of professional, bona fide building services firms are fully behind them.

More than 50,000 building owners are breaking the law by failing to have their air conditioning systems inspected, a key requirement of the EPBD, and many thousands more will fall into the same trap next year when the legislation is extended to even more systems.

Vince Cable, secretary of state for Business, Innovation and Skills, and Chris Huhne, secretary of state for Energy and Climate Change, have a great chance to make a major impact on building performance by making this a priority.

Many specialist engineering contractors and consultants have taken the trouble to train their operatives and have joined competent person schemes to help clients comply with the rules - with a little political support they can impose the high professional standards required on building systems.

According to CIBSE, 55,000 systems should have been inspected by January 2009, but fewer than 2,500 have been. And by January 2011 many thousands more should also have been assessed. Apart from the potential legal penalties, owners are almost certainly paying higher energy bills by failing to have their systems inspected by experts who can advise on efficiency improvements.

A group of leading bodies have joined forces to remind building owners and managers of their responsibilities while also urging government agencies and local authorities to enforce the legislation. These include the CIBSE, who initiated the 'Non-compliance costs' campaign; the HVCA; BRE; the UK Green Building Council and the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM).

Under the regulations all air conditioning systems in buildings with a cooling capacity over 12 kW must be inspected. All systems put in place on or after January 1 2008 are to be inspected within five years of installation, while all other air conditioning systems over 250 kW output should have been inspected by January 4 2009. Any air conditioning systems above 12 kW must be inspected by January 4 2011.

The whole point of this is not to force building owners and FMs to jump through yet more hoops, but to do something about energy efficiency. An air conditioning report (ACR) is produced as a result of the inspection and includes recommendations on how the systems could be run more efficiently. By implementing these recommendations, businesses can save money and cut their carbon emissions - in line with their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals.

We would urge the new government to abandon the woeful light-touch approach favoured by the previous administration and get its teeth into an issue that sits right at the heart of its carbon reduction agenda.

The non-compliance costs charter sets out three simple steps, which must be taken if air conditioning inspection compliance rates are to improve, including a call for the government to place enforcement in the hands of a new body. Supporters can also download letters to send to MPs and local media.

To join the non-compliance costs campaign please visit www.cibse.org/noncompliancecosts. For more information about competent and qualified building system engineers visit: www.hvca.org.uk