The Government is ‘in serious danger of killing off the air conditioning inspection regime’, Bob Towse, head of technical and safety at the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES), has said.
While the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) requires inspection of all UK air conditioning systems in buildings with a cooling capacity of over 12 kW, he claims ‘fewer than 5% actually have been’, meaning ‘the vast majority’ have been in breach of the law for at least two years. He adds: “Apart from the potential legal penalties, building owners and managers are missing out on the energy efficiency benefits flagged up by the inspections.” The B&ES says all such systems installed on, or after, 1 January 2008 should have been inspected within five years of installation, with older systems over 250 kW output inspected by January 2009, and others above 12 kW by January 2011. “Very few building owners are even aware of their legal responsibility, while local authorities – who are charged with enforcing this law – are not doing a great job,” Mr Towse points out.
