Cibse warns over Air Conditioning Inspection Report decline

Concerns have been raised over an apparent fall in the number of air conditioning systems assessments taking place despite the requirement by law.

All air-conditioning systems with a cooling capacity of 250kW should have been inspected by an accredited air-conditioning inspector by January last year.

But the Chartered Institute for Building Services (Cibse) has said energy services companies are reporting a fall in the quantity of new inspection contracts placed during the past few months, despite the fact that tens of thousands of the inspections that were required by last January are still to be carried out.

Cibse noted that it is estimated that fewer than 1,000 buildings are compliant, which means less than 2 per cent of the 50,000 in England & Wales thought to have required a first inspection by the deadline last January. However, there is also a debate over the exact figure of how many inspections have been carried out because there is no requirement to lodge certificates.

Industry commentators have suggested that the fall off in inspection work contracts being placed reflects a lack of awareness or perhaps willingness to comply with the inspection requirements of the Energy Performance in Buildings Regulations.

Darren Bryant of Efficient Air, one of the companies reporting a decline, said: “Air conditioning inspections have the potential to yield real carbon and energy savings in the short and medium term. We are very concerned that these cost savings, which companies can achieve, are being lost because until now there has been little or no enforcement of the regulations and companies seem to be hesitating.

“From our experience there are a number of factors stopping companies taking action. Some facilities management companies are not able to convince their clients of the need to act in the face of a lack of enforcement action by trading standards bodies. Furthermore, other companies are unsure how they can find assessors who can provide genuinely useful advice rather than those who have little or no practical experience.”

Jacqueline Balian, managing director of Cibse Services, said: “While we can, and do, keep trying to raise awareness among clients, we are aware that many low carbon energy assessors, facilities managers and other advisers find it difficult to persuade some clients to act unless there is clear and imminent danger of legal action resulting in a meaningful fine and damage to reputation.

“For this reason, Cibse will be mounting an awareness and enforcement campaign which aims to equip Trading Standards Officers to check that relevant buildings do have inspection certificates, and that they are minded to prosecute where such certificates are not available.”

All air conditioning systems with a cooling capacity of more than 11kW must be inspected by the January 2011.

A survey carried out by Cibse earlier this year showed that 30 per cent of energy assessors estimated that just 0 to 10 per cent of their clients were aware of the air conditioning inspection requirements.