EWS EPCs should be renewed every five years BRE The validity of energy performance certificates (EPCs) should be halved from 10 to five years, the Building Research Establishment (BRE) has proposed. In a report published in January, the BRE says the planned switch to renewable heating systems over the next decade means the current 10-year lifespan of EPCs is too long, and fiveyear validity should be considered. The report also recommends the development of a provisional EPC rating for the 40% of homes that currently lack one, but which are often the least energy efficient because they have not been improved or changed hands. It also calls for the headline metrics provided by EPCs to include energy efficiency alongside the cost of heating and lighting the home. Gillian Charlesworth, chief executive of the BRE, said: EPCs are key source of information used in planning retrofit programmes and government policies. With targeted reforms, the government can ensure the EPC can really achieve its potential, as a trusted starting point for advice and information on how we can all make our homes better. Labour scales back 28bn Green Prosperity Plan New proposals will reduce investment to 23.7bn over lifetime of next parliament The Labour Party has slashed proposals to boost spending on warm homes, as part of a controversial watering down of its 28bn per year Green Prosperity Plan (GPP). Under the GPP, announced by shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves in 2021, Labour said it would earmark 28bn during each year of the next parliament for green investment if it forms the next government. This included 6bn per year over a 10-year period on a Warm Homes Plan to upgrade the energy efciency of 19 million homes by 2035. However, Reeves and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer announced last month that the GPP has been scaled back to 23.7bn over the lifetime of the next parliament. Labour will invest a further 6.6bn through its Warm Homes Plan, but this is barely a third of the 6bn per year previously pledged. In a brieng document seen by CIBSE Journal, Labour has said the sums it has committed will enable up to ve million homes currently below an energy performance certicate C rating to be upgraded. The 6.6bn will be split between energy efciency grants delivered with local authorities, government-backed zero-interest loans for green home upgrades, and grants to boost the affordability of heat pumps. The GPP also earmarks 8.3bn of capital for Labours proposed publicly owned Great British Energy company, including 3.3bn for its Local Power Plan to fund community renewables initiatives. Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the London School of Economics Grantham Research Institute, said: It is disappointing that Labour has apparently caved into pretty feeble criticism from a government that, itself, is not investing anywhere near enough to secure a pathway to sustainable economic growth. E N E R G Y E F F I C I E N T S O L U T I O N S F O R A N Y VA LV E R E Q U I R E M E N T 6 March 2024 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE March 24 pp06 News.indd 6 23/02/2024 13:40