There has long been some confusion as to exactly when a site visit is required to complete a Display Energy Certificate (DEC) assessment or Recommendation Report (RR). Much of this has arisen from the statement below which is included in the Government Methodology Document.
“There is an expectation that the energy assessor must conduct a building walk-around energy survey to inform the production of the advisory report, or possess comprehensive prior knowledge of the building so that he/she can answer basic questions about key elements of the building that affect energy performance. Where an existing recommendation report or advisory report is available, the energy assessor should establish with the building occupier the actions planned or completed in response to the existing report."
Whilst the vast majority of assessors will complete a building walk-around energy survey for each new building they assess, upon any significant changes to the building or when the RR is due for renewal, a small minority of assessors have been failing to do so claiming " comprehensive prior knowledge of the building". On a number of occasions, this has resulted in insufficient evidence being available to support an audit called on the assessment.
This was not the intention of the statement and it was understood updated text for the methodology and DEC Conventions was agreed a number of years ago but this has yet to be formally published.
However, all assessors must note that, in order to produce a DEC or RR, it is a requirement that an assessor be a member of a Government Approved Accreditation Scheme. This requirement means that, in addition to any methodology requirements, assessors must also meet the requirements of the EASOB Scheme Operating Requirements (SOR) and instructions from Accreditation Schemes as they apply to assessors.
The current SOR (v1.9, p18) requirements for audit evidence are:
"1. Members will provide sufficient evidence to their Accreditation Scheme to prove that the Energy Certificate lodged is correct. The evidence presented must be of sufficient clarity to enable the Accreditation Scheme to replicate the Energy Certificate in order to judge within all reasonableness that it is correct.
"2. All evidence provided must be unique to the property visited and be reflective of the nominated date.
"3. Acceptable evidence will consist of floor plans, photographs and any other documentation to support the data entry and the assumptions made during the assessment process.
"4. Accreditation Schemes will provide their members with the appropriate guidance on what they consider to be appropriate evidence."
As such, it is not possible for an assessor to supply the required evidence in a number of circumstances without personally visiting the building under assessment. Therefore, site visits by the assessor MUST be undertaken in each of the following circumstances:
It is the first time that a specific assessor has assessed and lodged an assessment for the specific building under assessment;
A new RR needs to be produced, whether this is an original issue or an update; or
On any occasion when there is a significant change to the building that could affect the DEC assessment (i.e. any circumstance where the renewal of an annual DEC without a site visit exemption criterion do not apply).
In each case, the evidence must reflect the relevant “Assessment Date”. In the case of photographs and site notes, this means they are dated to match the “Assessment Date”. In some cases, it may be acceptable to use previous floor plans etc. for the building but they must be clearly revalidated to confirm that they have been checked and are accurate at the relevant “Nominated Date”. The simplest way to achieve this is to annotate them clearly with any changes and to sign and date them to confirm accuracy on the “Assessment Date”.
For clarity, where a site visit is required or has been completed, the “Assessment Date” used in the assessment must be the date upon which that visit took place. Failure to achieve this will result in a mandatory audit failure on the grounds that insufficient appropriate evidence has been supplied.
Where an annual DEC has been renewed without a site visit (within the permitted exemptions), the “Assessment Date” should be the date upon which the new energy data was reviewed to produce the new assessment.
Photographic evidence, site notes, floor plans etc. submitted in audit evidence must relate to the latest site visit that has been required. This is to enable the Accreditation Scheme to make a reasonable assessment as to the accuracy and validity of the assessments undertaken.
Mike Gordon
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