Are Listed Buildings exempt from Part L?
A question I’ve been asked a few times recently by clients is whether you need an EPC for a listed building, so I thought it might be helpful to clarify this one.
So why might you need an EPC? Well you might want to let the building as it is, or maybe you’re looking to covert the building into say a number of flats. When you let a building it would normally need to meet the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) and what that means is that you can’t let the building if the SAP rating is an F or a G, and you need to carry out improvements to bring it up to at least an E.
If you want to convert the building into flats normally you would need to meet the requirements of Part L1b of the Building Regs which would again ask you to carry out improvements. At the end of that process you would need an EPC to sell or let the flat.
But does this apply to a Listed Building? Well the way these two standards are applied to a Listed Building is that you only need to carry out the improvements where they wouldn’t be 'detrimental to the character or appearance of the building'.
So my advice in either case would be to review all the potential energy efficiency improvements and then this needs to be discussed with the Conservation Officer to find out which improvements would be acceptable to them.
So the answer would be that yes you should still need an EPC to let or sell the building, but you may find that you don’t need to meet the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards or Part L in full, if in doing so you would cause detriment to the character or appearance of the building.
Energy efficiency upgrades to historic buildings buildings can be challenging and Historic England have produced a series of useful guides on this subject which are well worth a look, and these can be accessed here.
If you work in the housing sector and need some advice then call me on 07806 286 338 or email admin@resolutionenergy.co.uk