In England & Wales, under The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007a Display Energy Certificate (DEC) showing the operational rating of the building, and recommendation report, are required for buildings with a total useful floor area over 1,000 square metres that are occupied in whole or part by public authorities and by institutions providing public services to a large number of persons and therefore frequently visited by those persons.
The DEC must be displayed in an area clearly visible to the public.
DECs in England & Wales are valid for 1 year and the accompanying recommendation reports are valid for 7 years, thus reducing the cost of obtaining a DEC in years 2 to 7.
Unlike EPCs – but like air conditioning assessments – it is the occupier’s responsibility (e.g. in the case of DECs the local authority or public institution itself) to obtain the Display Energy Certificate.
For your guidance:
- public authorities might include central and local government, NHS trusts including hospital buildings, schools and colleges (maintained and community), leisure centres (but not private clubs), municipal golf clubhouses, public libraries, museums & art galleries provided by public authorities, police, courts, prisons, M.O.D. (but unlikely to apply to buildings such as missile bases, air bases or restricted research establishments), executive agencies and statutory regulatory bodies;
- an institution providing a public service is likely to be deemed as one providing a service traditionally associated with local or national government.
In Scotland, under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003, from 4th January 2009, public authorities and institutions occupying buildings with a total useful floor area over 1,000 square metres must display in an area clearly visible to the public an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) showing the building’s asset rating. In Scotland EPCs for public buildings are valid for a period of 10 years and are not accompanied by separate recommendation reports although the EPC itself may contain advice on cost effective improvement measures.
Guidance on what constitutes a “public body” is provided in the Non-Domestic Technical Handbook at Section 6.9.3: http://www.sbsa.gov.uk/tech_handbooks/tbooks2008.htm#2.