Property consultancy Tuffin Ferraby Taylor (TFT) has warned that commercial landlords in Scotland appear unprepared for new energy efficiency regulations, due to come into force in a few months time.
The draft legislation was published on 21 January this year and has been designed to stimulate increased energy efficiency within Scotland’s commercial buildings. Similar regulations are planned for England and Wales but do not come into force until 1 April 2018.
From 1 September, new regulations in Scotland will require any owner of property larger than 1,000 square meters to ensure that all energy improvement records are held by the Scottish EPC Register.
These records must comprise an action plan that is filed when a property is sold or rented as well as the premises’ energy performance certificate. The action plan must set out how the owner intends to bring the energy performance of the building up to required standards.
But an analysis conducted by TFT concluded that around 70% of commercial property owners in Scotland are yet to draw up action plans to comply with the new regulations and Mat Lown, partner and head of sustainability at TFT, warned that those who continue to ignore them face “significant gines”.
“We believe the regulations offer an enlightened approach to energy performance by making relevant compliance information publicly available and recognising that such regulation is an essential part of implementing Scotland’s energy efficiency programme over the next 20 years,” Lown added.
