HVCA (Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association) subsidiary BESCA (Building Engineering Services Competence Accreditation Ltd) has been approved by the Department for Communities and Local Government to operate an accreditation scheme for energy assessors.

Many of the provisions of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive were implemented in England and Wales through revisions to the Building Regulations, which were introduced in April 2006. The remainder – which relate to the provision of building energy performance certificates (EPCs) and the regular inspection of air conditioning equipment – have subsequently been addressed by the Energy Performance of Buildings Certificates and Inspections (England and Wales) Regulations, which came into force in March last year.

They lay down that air conditioning systems with a cooling capacity of 12 kW or more must be inspected by a competent person, who will provide a report detailing measures that would improve the energy efficiency of the system, reveals the association’s press release. “The persons carrying out all of these inspections and assessments must be members of a Government-approved accreditation scheme – such as the one being established by BESCA,”  explained Bob Towse, HVCA head of technical and safety.