Hidden EPC costs revealed by client

A leading property investment client today claimed EPC costs were dwarfed by the spend the client needed to make on updating property plans.

Speaking at today’s Surviving EPCs webinar Prupim environment director Martin Stephens said the firm was unable to use existing property plans for generating EPCs on its stock of buildings. “They lacked detail,” he said. “This has resulted in added expense and I think it’s a common experience in the sector. The cost of the plans will exceed the EPC itself.”

Stephens’ presentation also included details of how EPCs could affect future values of property. He also revealed:

• That Prupim had carried out 71 EPCs and the average rating was D. He said the sample of properties was not representative of the group’s portfolio. “It’s heavily influenced by city centre multi-tenanted buildings"
• That costs of EPCs themselves varied from £800 to £3,500 for Prupim but that EPCs for shopping centres could be considerably more
• The firm has invested between £600-650,000 on the EPC process

The webinar also included presentations from Roger Watts from building surveying outfit Trident and Brian Scannell from training outfit NES. It took part as part of the Sustainability now web event.