Community buildings in the UK require £429m-worth of investment to meet minimum energy standards set to be introduced in 2030, according to new research, with those missing the target at risk of sanctions.
Yesterday, charity Social Investment Business (SIB) published a paper on the estimated costs to retrofit community buildings to reach the government’s planned minimum energy performance certificate (EPC) C standard.
The paper says that making all the recommended upgrades for community buildings would cost around £90m per year over the next five years, with the average cost per building being £31,000.
This latest research builds on SIB’s existing papers which show that community buildings are in a worse condition than non-domestic buildings while over half fall below an EPC rating of C.
Half of community buildings at risk of sanctions
In September, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced that the government would “shortly consult on proposals for private and social rented homes to achieve EPC C or equivalent by 2030”.
SIB’s latest paper shows that the community sector is not on track to meet this target.
It finds that between 2016 and 2023, the proportion of community buildings with an EPC rating below C fell from 60% to 50%.
This “sluggish decline”, the paper says, means that “half of all community buildings in the country are at risk of sanctions when the new EPC C standard comes into place”.
It says: “If improvement continues at the current pace, 30% of community buildings would still be below an EPC C by 2030.
“A significant input of investment, support, and expertise is needed over the next five years to avoid hundreds of community groups running into problems.
“The community sector doesn’t have the resources to make this shift alone.”
The report adds that without investment, these standards could also worsen regional inequalities.
For instance, 34% of community buildings in London fall below EPC C compared with 49% in the rest of England.
Government must rebalance energy price
The paper says most of the £429m expense needed to meet the minimum standard would involve installing three renewable technologies: air source heat pumps, solar photovoltaic panels and solar thermal heating panels.
“Alongside upfront installation costs, there’ll be a need to support the running of these technologies,” it reads.
“This includes policies like energy price rebalancing to ensure heat pumps are economical to run, and extensions of incentive payment policies like the Renewable Heat Incentive and the Feed-in-Tariff.
“These ensure that clean energy technologies are cost-effective to run, preventing community groups from being punished for going green.”
144 million kg of CO2 could be saved
The investment would bring “significant co-benefits beyond reducing regulatory risk and improving energy efficiency, such as by boosting the sector to reach net zero”, the report says.
It says implementing all recommendations could save an estimated 144 million kg of CO2 per year, the equivalent of removing 73,000 cars from the road per year.
“Energy efficiency upgrades allow community groups to heat buildings comfortably and use buildings at more times of the year,” the report reads.
“They can also save money from energy bills. All these benefits can improve the offering of community groups and allow them to generate more income, boosting their resilience.
“By taking a holistic, whole-building approach, energy efficiency upgrades can be done alongside maintenance work, securing the future of buildings.
“This can help boost resilience and other benefits can be achieved such as improving air quality.”
Related articles
