Public sector misses green building certificate deadline

The Scottish Parliament building is just one of a large number of publis buildings that have failed to obtain an Energy Performance Certificate

The EU system for rating the energy efficiency of public buildings has been labelled "a shambles" by the Association for the Conservation of Energy after a number of the UK's most high profile buildings failed to meet a deadline requiring them to disclose their energy performance.

All public sector buildings were supposed to display an official Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) from 4th January, but many – including the Scottish Parliament building - have not met the deadline.

Chas Booth, senior press and parliamentary officer (Scotland) at the Association for the Conservation of Energy, said the failure was a major embarassment for the government given its repeated calls for improvements in building energy efficiency across the private sector.

"The public sector should be leading by example, and the government must now commit to a planned programme of energy efficiency improvements to ensure this waste and pollution is brought under control," he said.

It is estimated that about half of public buildings have met the deadline and now display EPCs, though no accurate figures have emerged.

John Alker, public affairs manager at the UK Green Building Council, said that the failure of some buildings to meet the deadline should not be interpreted as evidence that the scheme was failing, arguing that its ultimate aim of providing government departments with a clear incentive to cut energy use could still be achieved.

"It's a new idea, and it always takes time to get assessments done – nobody is quite sure who is meant to do what yet," he said. "There is a wide variety of buildings in the public sector meaning they take more time to assess."

Last year, EU legislation requiring homes to have energy certificates was similarly criticised by industry insiders, who claimed that there were not enough qualified assessors available to provide homes with EPCs.