Developing Best Practice in Sustainability

The sustainability team at Cudd Bentley continually strives for excellence through training and interaction with other sustainability practitioners throughout the UK. At Cudd Bentley, continuous learning is at the heart of our sustainability practice. Conferences and networking events provide invaluable opportunities to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving industry.

One such opportunity arose recently when one of our Sustainability Engineers attended the Elmhurst National Conference in Leicester. The event was led by Elmhurst, the organisation behind the SAP software Cudd Bentley uses for residential projects. The Standard Assessment Produce (SAP) is the UK government’s approved method for assessing the energy performance of new and converted dwellings, ensuring compliance with building regulations and achieving energy efficiency. The conference also featured non-residential modelling software companies like IES and DesignBuilder plus a variety of talks, panel discussions and Q&A sessions.

Who is Elmhurst?

For context, Elmhurst is the UK’s largest independent provider of energy assessment, retrofit, and property professional training, software, and accreditation. A leading expert in building energy performance assessment in the UK, Elmhurst boasts over 30 years of experience. They have trained chartered surveyors to produce home energy reports for home buying surveys, created the first standardised methodology in the UK to calculate the energy efficiency of existing homes and trained and accredited thousands of individuals to conduct energy assessments and produce Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs).

Conference content

It was a packed programme and one of the key elements of the conference was on EPC development:

• EPC Updates & Reforms
  • Introduction of the Home Energy Model (HEM) to replace SAP in future EPC assessments in 2025.
  • Proposed improvements to EPC data accessibility, validity periods, and assessment quality.

We can all be guilty of getting caught up in numbers, reporting and data so it was great to see that this section of the conference put people at the centre. The speaker posed this question:

Who are we creating the EPC for?

• People who are making significant decisions about buying or renting properties.
• Individuals looking to retrofit their buildings.
• Those aiming to comply with regulations.
• Applicants for funding and organisations offering related products and services.
• Stakeholders seeking to understand building stock.
• Entities measuring progress against targets.

It was a great reminder of why our team strives to deliver comprehensive and accurate EPCs.

Other Topics Covered:

• Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) Regulations:
  • Target for non-domestic rented buildings to achieve EPC B by 2031, with an interim milestone of EPC C by 2027.
  • Increased scrutiny of EPCs and assessor responsibilities to ensure MEES compliance.
• Home Energy Model (HEM) & SAP Updates:
  • Transition from SAP 10.2 to HEM for improved modelling accuracy and integration of smart technologies.
  • Shift from monthly to half-hourly energy modelling for better real-world performance representation.
• Non-Domestic Energy Efficiency:
  • Future consultation on reducing EPC validity periods and increasing compliance enforcement.
  • Discussion on the role of Display Energy Certificates (DEC) and Air Conditioning Inspections (ACIR) in energy efficiency tracking.
• Heat Loss & Energy Performance:
  • Emphasis on accurate heat loss calculations to improve EPC accuracy and heating system sizing.
  • Overview of Elmhurst’s Heat Loss Calculator and its application in energy modelling.

By staying informed on industry advancements, our team is better equipped to deliver cutting-edge sustainability solutions. We look forward to applying these insights to enhance our projects and sharing more industry developments in the future.