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This commitment to sustainability put the spotlight on businesses and property owners in the UK and their carbon footprint. Office spaces are increasingly designed to be more environmentally friendly as companies look to meet their internal ESG goals and overall sustainability objectives. Likewise, UK residents and property owners are becoming more conscientious about their property’s EPC checks and air-tightness assessments.

Since 2006, it’s been a mandatory requirement for all types of new builds in England and Wales to be tested for air tightness. Prior to this requirement, it was accepted that the average UK dwelling leaked air at a rate of 11.48 m³/(m² hr) @ 50 Pa. As of 2006, under the current UK building regulations, the standard permissible figures are between 3 and 8m³/(m² hr) @50 Pa.

If you’re building your own home, getting an air tightness test is legally required. Air tightness testing, also known as air permeability testing, air leakage or air pressure testing, helps to measure if air escapes through the cracks and gaps in the building frame. 

Air permeability test results will help determine your property’s energy efficiency, the heating and cooling costs and the comfort of the living areas. 

However, sometimes, a property can fail an air tightness test.

Whether you’re a homeowner, contractor, or landlord, a good Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating is essential for selling, renting or building a property. The UK government is taking proactive steps to reach its climate goals and reduce the country’s overall carbon emissions, and property owners need to ensure their property meets requirements.  

The UK has taken a strong stance towards adopting sustainable living standards over the years. Research by the National Housing Federation has shown that UK homes produce more carbon emissions than the total number of cars in the country. Due to leaky insulation and gas central heating, 25 million British homes produce 58.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Thus, the need for more energy-efficient homes has risen in recent years.

For any business organisation, maintaining compliance with energy efficiency laws is vital. A precise framework for enhancing the energy efficiency of buildings in the United Kingdom is outlined in the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES).

As the UK moves towards becoming more environmentally responsible, one measure topping the list is the energy efficiency of living and working spaces. In addition to building comfortable homes and offices to live and work in, there’s also a focus on reducing property energy consumption. Energy efficiency is not only better for the environment, it reduces energy bills and can give a property a higher, more attractive market value.

While we know that heating our homes and utilising electricity contributes to this, is it possible to adopt a more sustainable approach towards fulfilling our home energy needs?
Having energy-efficient homes complements the steps towards sustainability and environmental consciousness, but, do you know if your residential property is energy-efficient?

If not, then perhaps it’s time for you to look into getting an Energy Performance Certificate. Available for residential properties all over the UK, EPCs are a quick and easy way to establish how energy-efficient our homes are.

It’s now more important than ever to start getting eco-friendly and energy-efficient. This is where retrofitting comes in as the go-to method for boosting the value and efficiency of older buildings.

As a developer, whether you’re working on a newly built estate or commercial premises, if the property is larger than 500m2, you will need air testing conducted. For large residential developments, there are nuances that mean not every property needs air permeability testing, however, a large percentage of properties normally do.