Housing complexes efficiently provided with EPCs

During the coronavirus outbreak, many office buildings are partially empty. This seems to be the ideal time to provide buildings with an EPC, because the inconvenience of the on-site visit is minimal and the inventory can be made quickly and efficiently. But in housing complexes too, it is possible to make smart use of temporarily vacant apartments.

Smart use of vacant apartments

Apartments are temporarily vacant on a regular basis in large apartment complexes, for example due to a change of occupancy. This is the ideal time to provide the entire complex with EPCs. It is not always necessary to make an inventory of all the apartments individually. If the apartments are virtually the same, a visit to a few of them may be enough to draw up EPCs for the entire complex.

“Apartments in a housing complex are often managed by one organisation, so the state of maintenance is the same. The only thing that sometimes differs is the boiler, but that is always well documented. This allows you to establish EPCs for the entire complex, while you don’t have to visit all apartments.”

 
– Kees Jan Blaauboer, senior consultant at CFP.

A practical example

For Nelis Bouw, CFP provided a number of similar homes with an EPC in one go. As the homes have the same owner, they are all maintained in the same way and the insulation is similar in all homes. Based on a good set of construction drawings and one site visit, a satisfactory energy assessment could be carried out for all homes.

Reporting and follow-up measures

In the meantime, the energy assessment has been completed and all homes have been given an EPC B or C. In addition, CFP has made recommendations for follow-up measures in a report. For example, most homes can be upgraded to EPC band A using a modern central heating boiler, floor insulation and solar panels. The payback period for this is about 3 years.

“As CFP was able to do the energy assessments properly on the basis of our drawings and maintenance data, we were able to complete the assessments with minimal inconvenience to our tenants. This means that, despite the coronavirus measures, we can still continue to make buildings more sustainable.“

 
– Cees Nelis, C. Nelis bouw & ontwikkeling

Are you also working on improving the EPC of your buildings? Read more about energy management or contact one of our consultants.