There is a new but little known piece of legislation that has been introduced, it is based on the European Parliaments; Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), which requires member states to bring in necessary laws on energy consumption and use.

All buildings with an Air Conditioning system with a combined effective output of 12Kw and over now require an Air Conditioning Inspection Report, which complies with CIBSE TM44.

These reports should have already been commissioned, and should have been in place by the 4th January 2011.













It is the responsibility of the person who controls the operation of the system to commission or provide the report; this may be for example, the buildings owner or facilities manager.
Where the property has been leased and the tenant has taken full responsibility for the building and its services, then the tenant will be liable to provide a report.

The completed Air Conditioning report is lodged on the Landmark register. The inspection can only be carried out by a fully accredited Air Conditioning Inspector.

The Communities and Local Government (CLG) document “A Guide to Air Conditioning Inspections for Buildings” explains the regulations in full and the implementation dates. To view this document, please follow the link.

I have also attached a copy in “Word” format and highlighted the areas of relevance to reduce the amount of reading required. To view this, please follow the link.

A 12Kw system is a very small capacity; a single Air Conditioning ceiling cassette may give a capacity of over 12 Kw, and trigger the requirement for a report.
Portfolio, building owners and tenants need to be aware that the lack of a report may lead to a fine.

Local Authorities (trading standards officers) are responsible for enforcing the requirements and they have the authority to issue penalty charge notices for non - compliance and continued non - compliance.

I am a fully accredited (level 4) Air Conditioning Inspector and I am able to carry out inspections on most equipments ranging from simple packaged systems to complicated centralised systems containing Air Handling Units, Chilled Water systems and associated controls.

If you are unsure if your system requires an inspection report under this legislation, or if you have any questions, please contact me.