Why can’t I compare a new build with a similar existing property?

The other day I took an enquiry from a property developer about the kind of EPC certificate they required.  They were converting an existing property into apartments and wanted to know whether they needed to treat each apartment as a new build or a conversion.  I asked them what their local building control officer had said.  After all, at the end of the day if they aren’t happy with the EPC as issued they can insist that the developer goes through all of the required re-work to get the appropriate document.  Imagine my surprise when I was told that the building control officer neither knew nor cared.  So, what about your architect?  Same answer.  Project Manager? Same again.  If industry professionals cannot readily answer the question what hope is there for the public. 

We all happily talk about EPC certificates as if there is one simple document which covers all kinds of buildings.  That is certainly what the public perception is and after all why shouldn’t there be. Isn’t the whole point of an EPC to provide a “score” which enables potential buyers and tenants to compare properties and see how they perform?  But as with so many things in life we (the industry) all know how wrong that perception is. 

Whilst one can understand why a new build might have its Energy Performance Certificate score calculated in a different way to an existing property its hard to understand a system which actually has two different documents with two incompatible scoring systems rendering any comparison useless.  Furthermore, coming back to my poor customer, what constitutes a new build?  Is it a new apartment created in an existing house?  What about a self-contained annexe added to an existing house?   The simple answer is that it depends on a number of factors and no two people ever seem to have the same view.

What further complicates the issue for the public is the fact that the people who carry out the assessments all have different job titles and need to be involved at different stages.  And quite often, whilst one may be qualified for one type of property they wont be for another.

How did an industry that is less than 4 years old get this complicated?  More importantly what can we as an industry do to make it easier for the long suffering public? 

I certainly don’t profess to have all the answers but I would certainly start by getting rid of two different certificates for what is essentially the same domestic property depending on whether its new or not.  Simples!