Welcome to Progressive Energy BER 

BER Certs for residential properties

Call or Email for bookings and for competitive commercial/industrial quotations

 

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING ENERGY RATINGS (BER'S) INCLUDING ADVISORY REPORT & DETAILED IMPROVEMENTS REPORT WHICH ILLUSTRATES SMALL AND LARGE UPGRADES THAT COULD BE DONE TO IMPROVE THE BUILDINGS BER AND OVERALL EFFICIENCY LEVEL

DISPLAY ENERGY CERTIFICATES (DEC) FOR LARGE PUBLIC BUILDINGS

COMMERCIAL BER'S FOR ANY SIZE/TYPE OF COMMERCIAL OR INDUSTRIAL BUILDING FROM RETAIL UNITS TO LARGE WAREHOUSES

Progressive Energy now conduct Commercial BER assessments, also known as Non-Domestic BER's, throughout Dublin, Connaught and the midlands region. Commercial Building Energy Ratings (BER) are required for any commercial or industrial building being sold, rented or let in Ireland, including Northern Ireland, from 1st January 2009. Commercial BER's are also valid for 10 years. BER's for larger commercial/industrial generally take 1-2 weeks to prepare depending on the complexity of the commercial building and whether it has air conditioning, renewable energies, number of zones, the age and type of construction and the complexity of associated systems like the electrical and heating layout and the type of ventilation/duct systems present, if any.

HOME ENERGY SAVER SCHEME (HES) & GRANT ADVICE/APPLICATIONS: SEI NOW OFFER A €200 GRANT FOR PRE & POST BER CERTIFICATES. See www.sei.ie/hes for full details regarding this programme

BUILDING ENERGY RATING SPECIALISTS (BER)

DUBLIN-CONNAUGHT-MIDLANDS

FOR A FAST & COMPETITIVE BER ASSESSMENT & CERTIFICATE

CONTACT us by email info@progressiveenergy.ie or by filling in the form on our 'contact us' section of this website, also available via the link below:

http://www.progressiveenergy.ie/contact-us.html

‘Progressive Energy' specialise in Building Energy Ratings (BER's) for residential properties and Display Energy Certificates (DEC) for all large public buildings over 1000m2. We do Building Energy Ratings (BERs) throughout Dublin, Athlone, Longford, Galway, Meath, Roscommon, Westmeath, Offaly, Carlow, Laois, Louth, Offaly, Wicklow, Sligo, Cavan, Monaghan, Kildare, Leitrim and South Donegal. The Building Energy Rating (BER) system is conducted by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI), formerly the Irish Energy Centre which was set up by the government in 2002 as Ireland's national energy agency. SEI's mission is to promote and assist the development of sustainable energy in Ireland.

A BER is similar to the energy label for a household electrical appliance like your fridge. The label has a scale of A-G. A-rated homes are the most energy efficient and G the least efficient.

From the 1st of January 2009 a BER certificate is compulsory for all homes being sold or rented. If you are buying or renting a new house or apartment now, you are entitled to a BER - so do ask the seller/landlord or their agent for it.

All new homes (even when not for sale) must have a BER certificate before they are occupied as detailed under S.I. 666. See

http://www.environ.ie/en/Legislation/DevelopmentandHousing/

BER assessments performed on new dwellings will also help determine compliance to Part L of the Building Regulations.

For info on the new home energy saving scheme, see:

www.sei.ie/hes or call 1850-927000

For info on SEI's new renewable energy scheme, including details on commerical & agricultural funding available for wind power, hydro-power & solar photovoltaic projects!

See www.sei.ie/microgen

Progressive Energy (www.progressiveenergy.ie) in association with

Progressive Energy Rating (www.progressiveenergyrating.com)

BER SPECIALISTS IN COMMERCIAL-INDUSTRIAL/NON DOMESTIC BUILDING ENERGY RATINGS (BER) AND DOMESTIC BERs FOR ALL HOUSES AND APARTMENTS!

The BER Cert

 

Before you can move into your new home you are now required to have a Building Energy Rating Certificate issued for the building.

Since January 2007 all new houses "offered for sale of rent", must undergo an energy performance assessment under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, from which the house will be issued with a Building Energy Rating (BER) Certificate. According to a Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI), the administrative body for the EPBD, an assessment is also required for any self build house before the occupant moves in.

The EU Directive will, when fully implemented in 2009, require a BER to be registered for all buildings, with only a few exceptions (eg. listed buildings of outstanding architectural or historical importance and outhouses such as barns) that are offered for sale or rental.

On 7 January 2007, BER Certificates and Advisory Reports became mandatory for all newly built dwellings for sale or rent in Ireland. While there is no requirement under Planning Law for a BER to be provided with a planning application, local authorities are free to seek relative documentation to satisfy themselves that an individual application will comply with the Building Control Act. In the instance of local authorities that require higher levels of energy efficiency in news houses than might be the case in other areas, a BER certificate may be an appropriate document to show compliance with these requirements.

The assessment is carried using the Dwellings Energy assessment Procedure (DEAP) - an Excel spreadsheet programme. The DEAP can be downloaded from the SEI website www.sei.ie

IMPLEMENTATION DATES FOR BER OF BUILDINGS

The introduction of BER assessments is being introduced in three phases:

• 1 January 2007 - BER of new dwellings
• 1 July 2008 - BER of new buildings, other than dwellings
• 1 January 2009 - BER of existing dwellings and other existing buildings, when offered for sale or rental

What is a BER?
A BER gives an objective scale of comparison for the energy demand and performance of a building. It is described as a kilometres per litre rating for a car or the A to G rating for an electrical appliance. It will allow prospective buyers or tenants to factor energy performance and costs into their comparison of different properties and into their ultimate decision. It should also enable self-builders to make amendments at design stage to improve the energy efficiency of their home.

Assessors

The survey of your house design is carried out by a registered assessor, whose details have been accepted on to the national EPBD administration database. Registered assessors must have successfully completed a training programme.

They must also have met all other requirements set for entry on to the database; these would include demonstration that they have adequate indemnity insurance and signing of a code of conduct.

The assessor measures, for example, the size of the house, the construction, the insulation levels, the type of windows, details of the heating and hot water systems, etc. This information is then used to calculate the energy performance of the house and to give it an energy rating. All assessors are required to follow a standardised procedure and calculation methodology to arrive at a rating.

According to the SEI: "In the situation where a house is being offered for sale off plans a 'Provisional BER Certificate' must be produced by the vendor to potential buyers or tenants.

This certificate is based upon the pre-construction plans. When the relevant new dwelling is completed, the vendor is obligated to arrange for a new BER Certificate to be supplied to the purchaser, based on the plans of the dwelling as constructed (to take account of any design changes during construction). The Provisional Certificate is valid for two years, while the BER Certificate upon completion is valid for 10 years. However if the house is not sold from plans, there is no requirement for a Provisional Cert. This means that as a self-builder you are only required to have an assessment carried out once the house has been completed.

But a provisional assessment will give some important insight into design amendments you can make to improve the energy performance of your house. Along with the certificate, the assessor provides the homeowner with an Advisory Report setting out options for improving the energy performance of the property (ie stating how the energy performance of the house could be improved).

Such steps might include simple measures such as insulating the hot water tank, increasing the insulation in the walls/attic/floor, replacing an old or inefficient boiler with a more efficient boiler, heating controls, etc. It would be considerably cheaper to take on these recommendations at design stage rather than tackling them once your house has been built.

The BER Certificate rating system runs from an A1 rating fithe most efficient rating) to G fifth least efficient rating) - any rating greater
than a B2 rating will exceed Building Regulations fi2005).

Marketing Tool

It is expected that a high scoring BER Certificate will add significant value to your home. In fact as the property market has slowed considerably, your BER rating could be a very important marketing tool. When your house is being designed, your architect should be able to use the DEAP procedure to amend elements of the design to attain a higher BER rating.

Legal Obligations

Eventually a legal obligation to have a BER Certificate will apply to virtually all buildings that are either newly constructed or otherwise placed on the market for sale or rental. If your design does not get a high BER rating, there is no obligation on you to follow the recommendations in the Advisory Report.

Costs

SEI has indicated that the cost of a provisional assessment off plans of a new house should not exceed €300. This figure is based on prices for assessments in Denmark. However assessors carrying out assessments Ireland indicated that a base cost figure of €350 or €7 per sq m would
be more accurate.

A word of warning

If you do not comply with BER requirements to have an assessment completed, you could be liable, on conviction in the District Court, to a maximum fine of €5,000. Failure to secure a BER Certificate at the proper time could also hinder or delay the legal completion of a sale or letting or a future disposal of the relevant dwelling.

IMPACTS OF EPBD

What impact will the EPBD have on the Irish self-build market?