A new white paper released today is calling for urgent reform of the UK’s national energy assessment standards, warning that current approaches are producing unreliable Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) for millions of homes and non-domestic buildings.
The paper, Better Data, Better Buildings, is co-authored by Professor Richard Fitton, alongside other industry and academic experts, and highlights how national energy models rely heavily on assumed performance values rather than real measurements. This lack of accuracy undermines retrofit policy, heat pump deployment and wider efforts to cut building emissions.
The authors propose the formal inclusion of in-situ U-value measurements within methodologies such as RdSAP, HEM, SAP and BS EN 12831. U-values measure heat loss through building elements and play a key role in EPC ratings and heating system design. Improving their accuracy would help de-risk billions of pounds of retrofit investment across schemes including the Warm Homes Plan, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES).
Beyond policy, the change would bring clear benefits for homeowners and landlords. Measured data could demonstrate better-than-assumed performance, improving EPC ratings, or provide robust evidence of underperformance to guide retrofit decisions and resolve disputes.
Key Benefits
- Better targeting of retrofit funding, directing support where it will have the greatest impact
- Stronger quality assurance for new builds and retrofits through objective performance evidence
- Improved national energy models as measured data strengthens future assumptions
Resources
- Download the full report: Better Data, Better Buildings
- View the open letter to DESNZ and MHCLG