BEAMA marked World Ventil8 Day with the publication of a position paper urging Government to broaden the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) remit to recognise and assess the indoor air quality of homes.
The paper outlines a simple example of how the assessment can work. Read more here
With over £1bn of the NHS budget spent on health issues related to poor indoor air quality each year, BEAMA argues that urgent action is required to maximise occupants’ awareness of the issue. In the first quarter of 2023 over 450,000 EPCs were lodged in England and Wales, which presents a significant opportunity to make a simple assessment of a home’s ventilation performance.
Speaking at a World Ventil8 Day meeting in London, Lee Nurse, Business Development Director of Volution Group and Chair of BEAMA’s Ventilation Group said “the expansion of the remit of EPCs is a common sense approach to what is a national health crisis. It is absolutely the right time to enforce the principle that a healthy home is a basic human right. With so much policy focus on retrofitting homes to improve their energy efficiency, we should not be ignoring the ongoing health of occupants”.
BEAMA CEO Yselkla Farmer endorses the approach stating that “it cannot be right that as we enter 2025, 65,000 homes have Category 1 damp and mould issues as defined within the Decent Homes Standard. An investment of £250m to improve these homes would save the NHS £33m each year but to properly resolve our home indoor air quality needs we need £9bn. The stakes are high and the impact of this investment would provide much needed relief for NHS spend and improve the quality of life for many thousands of people”.
Nathan Wood, Chair of World Ventil8 Day added "I’m proud to back BEAMA’s call for EPC reform to prioritize indoor air quality. A home should be a haven, safe to breathe in, to rest, to thrive. Yet for many, poor indoor air puts health at risk, strains our NHS, and weakens our well-being. By embedding air quality into the EPC, we’re moving beyond energy ratings to embrace a deeper commitment to health and safety in every home. This is a vital step toward making sure that every family, every child, can grow up in a space that truly supports their health. Let’s make this change for a healthier future."
The UK Government has recently announced plans to invest an initial budget of £3.4m through its Warm Homes Plan, and mandate minimum energy efficiency standards for private rental properties by 2030 which BEAMA argues is a strong catalyst for EPC reform to maximise the policy impact of these initiatives.
