Senior FM: "No shame" in low DEC rating

03 October 2008

There is “no shame” in having a low display energy certificate (DEC) rating for a building, according to a senior FM.

DECs, introduced from 1 October, publicly display how efficiently a public sector building is being operated and rate structures from a high of A to a low of G.

“It’s unfair to take a swing at a building for having a low energy rating,” said Steve Metcalfe, head of estate management at The London Library.  “The government’s intention was to give us a benchmark upon which to improve. Using a DEC as a stick to beat us with was not the intention.”

Metcalfe told FM World that he had a DEC done for the 200-year old library, although as a private trust it didn’t need one. It was rated E. “It’s like going to the doctor for a check-up,” he said.

His comments come after an article in The Guardian published on 2 October listed poor performing buildings as “halls of shame”.

The article listed several of the “biggest CO2 offenders”, including Palace of Westminster, Bank of England, Imperial War Museum buildings in London and Salford, all of which scored the lowest rating, G.

The Natural History Museum, HM Treasury, City Hall London and Defra’s head office scored E. Number 10 Downing Street did better, at D. The Palace of Westminster emitted 11,983 tonnes of CO2 annually, while Downing Street gave out 675.

A spokesperson for the Department for Communities and Local Government, the lead department on the DEC programme and which scored an F, would not comment on the Guardian article. But he told FM World that it is up to individual departments and agencies to judge what they do or don’t do to improve energy efficiency.

“These organisations are answerable for their own buildings,” he said. Every DEC assessment is accompanied by an advisory report that details what can be done to improve a building’s efficiency. The public display of a DEC is meant to be an incentive to make these improvements.”

A written statement from the Office of Government Commerce, the government’s procurement and efficiency watchdog, said the public sector is committed to improvements within all aspects of the civil estate. The introduction of DECs “marks an important step in moving towards a greener government estate”.

The aim is that by 2020 carbon emissions on central government estate will be cut by 30 per cent.