How to become a Commercial Energy Assessor for EPC and DECs
All Commercial Energy Assessors will need to belong to an approved accreditation scheme. In order to join our accreditation scheme you will need to either:
- Have obtained a relevant Government approved qualilfication
or
- Been accepted by the accreditation scheme under the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) route.
Obtain a relevant Government approved qualification.
It is envisaged that the following diplomas will be available in the long term:
- Level 3 Diploma for EPCs in exisitng commercial buildings - this will allow you to undertake EPCs on simple buildings - ones with Traditional construction and heating systems with no centralised air conditioning plant. These will be modelled on SBEM.
- Level 4 Diploma for EPCs in exisitng and new commercial buildings - this will allow you to undertake EPCs on more complex buildings - both exisitng and new designs. The construction might be more complex (including curtain walling and glazing systems) and the building services might also include centralised air conditioning plant. these will be modelled on SBEM.
- Level 5 Diploma for EPCs in exisitng and new commercial buildings - this is as the above diploma but will require modelling on a Dynamic Simulation Model. This is likely to be undertaken by building services consulting engineers who already use such modelling for designing the building in the first place. Individuals working at this level may oversee a team of specialists.
- Level 3 for DECs in public buildings - this will allow you to issue DECs and the accompanying advisory reports that are also required. These are based on Operational Ratings.
For comparison, the Diploma in Domestic Energy Assessment is Level 3, and the Diploma in Home Inspection is Level 4.
It is not clear at the moment when these qualifications will be available. We understand that the Awarding Body for the Built Environment (ABBE) intends to offer the Level 3 Diploma for EPCs in commercial buildings in the immediate future.
Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) route.
APEL provides an additional route for experienced practitioners who meet the national Occupational Standards as an alternative route to a formal qualification. APEL will allow individuals to apply for direct access to membership of an accreditation scheme without the need for a Government approved qualification. The intention of APEL is that candidates are still required to demonstrate that they possess the same standards of competence - as defined by the National Occupational Standards (NOS) as those required in order to gain the Government approved qualification.
Formal qualifications are not yet available, but it is expected that they will become available during 2008. The advantage of APEL is that it is quicker and less expensive than gaining a qualification (principally because no awarding body is involved). The disadvantage of APEL is that it is not as portable as a diploma - each accreditation scheme in reality has slightly different rules. This means that if you want to leave one scheme and join another you may have to go through another APEL route to prove your competence.
If you are a qualified DEA or HI the APEL route will recognise the knowledge and understanding that you have already demonstrated through gaining the DEA or HI Diploma.
All applicants will be checked against National Occupational Standards (NOS) which have been developed for each catagory of assessor, and existing practitioners will be given credit against the NOS for competencies they have already demonstrated. The levels reflect the levels of competence in the National Qualification Framework, with Level 5 being the highest.