EPC Case Study: Warehouse and Workshop in Barking

Warehouse and Workshop EPC in Barking

These two commercial units were having their leases renewed and as part of this process required an EPC. As you may be aware, as part of the MEES legislation any properties with new leases need an EPC, and furthermore require at least an E rating to be rentable.

Pricing the Barking units

The units were around 150m², with only a few zones in each. This means we priced both the warehouse and workshop at £140+ VAT each. The good news is that this is pretty common; most warehouses and workshops are not complicated buildings, so even larger buildings will not be as expensive as a similar sized office or retail unit.

Do workshops and warehouses need an EPC?

If a property is unheated, and wouldn’t generally require heating (like most workshops and warehouses), then an EPC may not be required. We often get asked to provide an EPC even in situations like these however, and this is usually because the bank or solicitor has requested an EPC. It is often easier to get the certificate done rather than try to find a way around it. As we will see, the final rating may be better than you first might think, because of this very fact that it is an unheated space.

Heating in warehouses and workshops

Normally with commercial units that have no heating present, the assessor will have to enter a default heating system into the software; the default is electric heating, which lowers the final rating significantly. Fortunately, because warehouses and workshops are often unheated and heating is largely unnecessary, there is an exception in the EPC for them. This means that an unheated space like this can still achieve a good EPC rating, provided the other elements of the building are up to scratch – particularly the lighting.

What did we see on the visit to Barking

The workshop was over 2 floors and was clearly just a workshop with no office or other spaces. The lighting was standard T8 fluorescents throughout and there was no heating or hot water heating in the property. T8 lighting performs well in comparison to halogen and incandescent lighting, but isn’t as good as LED fittings.

Although there was no insulation in the buildings, this was irrelevant. Where there is no heating, there is obviously no need to insulate.

The Final Rating

Both of the Barking units ended up achieving a D rating, which meant they had no issues being rented out to their tenants.