The sector鈥檚 leading training bodies have warned that it is unlikely there will be enough qualified inspectors to assess all the buildings requiring display energy certificates by the government鈥檚 October deadline.

The legislation applies to buildings greater than 1,000m2 that are frequently visited by the public. More than 40,000 buildings need to be assessed to show how much energy they use, but the official website showing who is qualified to issue display energy certificates (DECs) has a list of just 12 people.

Brian Scannell, managing director of National Energy Services, a training provider, said the software needed to certificate the buildings and the details of the scheme were not finalised, so training bodies could not start courses.

He said: 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 going to be incredibly difficult to see how all the buildings that need DEC鈥檚 will get them in time for October. We are already in the middle of June.鈥�

CIBSE said it had only trained a 鈥渉andful鈥� of assessors and described certifying 40,000 buildings by October as 鈥渁 tall order鈥�. BRE said it had only trained three or four people and that the deadline would be 鈥渢ight鈥�.

The communities department said: 鈥淒ECs for larger public buildings will be required by October. We are working with accreditation schemes and assessors to support this roll-out.鈥�

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