Background

Project Date: June 2024

The property was a 1 bedroom ground floor flat in the Coundon area of Coventry.

The landlord approached us wanting to improve the EPC rating from an E to a C.

Because the flat was vacant, the landlord was willing to make some substantial improvements.

The landlord also wanted a Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) report which is a custom energy efficiency report we provide, over and beyond the EPC.

This details step by step the best and most economical way to reach the customer’s desired objective.

The guesswork is taken out of what the epc rating would be after any particular improvement, thus saving the customer money in the long run.

Project Targets

The first thing we always recommend is to get an updated EPC.

The EPC certificate itself lists recommendations and in some cases, a MEES report is not required if the solutions on the EPC are straightforward.

An EPC was produced for the property and the EPC rating is shown below.

Solutions To Improve EPC Rating

Here are the solutions that we came up with on this project.

It most cases we produce a floor plan to make it clear which areas of the property in Coventry work should be carried out. 

The property suffered from condensation and black mould on the cold uninsulated walls. So insulating these walls were considered a priority

We always start by looking at the things that make the biggest differences to the epc rating which are:

• The Heating System
• The fuel source for the heating
• The insulation
• Solar PV

Usually by improving one or more of the above, a C rating can usually be achieved.

Heating Improvement – High Heat Retention Storage Heaters

We first looked at changing the existing storage heaters to high heat retention storage heaters.

These new types of heaters are significantly more efficient and significantly improve the epc rating .

With these heaters, you only need one fitted in the main living area.

Even if more were fitted in the other rooms, the rating would not improve further.

So for cost reasons, it was recommended to fit standard electric panel heaters in the other areas.

After the heating improvement the EPC rating improved by a whopping 9 points, from an E 54 to a D63.

However, we were still 6 points short of the C rating target, so we had to implement another one of the key elements that make a big difference.

Insulation Improvement – Internal Wall Insulation

It most cases we produce a floor plan to make it clear which areas of the property work should be carried out.

Here is the floor plan of the flat.

With this property in Coventry having 9 inch solid walls and being a flat, internal wall insulation was the only option.

We usually recommend fitting a product that will get the u-values of the walls down to 0.30 W/m2K or lower.

This is the minimum value recommended by the building regulations when upgrading an existing wall.

However, there is no legal reason a u-value of 0.30 needs to be achieved for a refurbishment.

This u-value can be achieved with a 72.5mm insulated plasterboard sometimes called PIR board.

These boards are available from manufacturers such as Celotex, Ecotherm, Manok, Mayplas, Unilin.

The best stockist in Coventry for these products are Jewsons at 186 Humber Ave ,CV1 2AS, Travis Perking Lockhurst Ln, CV6 5NJ, or Celco Builders Warehouse, Austin Drive, CV6 7NS.

It is extremely important to get professional advice to ensure that the correct thickness is fitted to achieve the required EPC rating.

This example shows the impact of the insulation board thickness on the EPC rating starting from our heating improvement of a D 63.

It is important to note that the values above are only for our example property.

Another property with a different amount of heat loss walls will produce different epc ratings, therefore it’s important to know the resulting rating before committing to a specific insulation board thickness.

The customer needs to have the u-values calculated by a suitably qualified person.

Alternatively, the customer needs to provide documentary evidence and details of the full product name fitted and its thickness and evidence that it has a thermal conductivity of at least 0.022, in which case your EPC assessor can then double the thickness of the insulation fitted which will produce the correct thermal value of the product in the EPC software.

Variations On A Theme

We recommended which walls should have internal wall insulation. The red areas on the floor plan are the walls we proposed. Initially we omitted the kitchenette walls due to the disruption this would cause.

This first proposal to the landlord resulted in an EPC rating of a C71.

The landlord then came back to us saying he wanted to remove the dual immersion heating from the bathroom so that the bathroom would be bigger and provide the hot water instead by an instantaneous water heater under the kitchen sink.

We modelled this change in the software which resulted in the epc rating being reduced to a D 67. The landlord decided against this.

The landlord came back to us again and asked what would the rating be if he insulated the kitchen walls as well because the units were being replaced. This resulted in 100 % of the heat loss walls being insulated. This resulted in an EPC rating of a C73.

The landlord approached us again and this time asked us what the rating would be if he now changed the water heating to an instantaneous water heating.

We ran this example through the EPC software which resulted in the flat in Coventry having an EPC rating of a C70.

The landlord was happy with this because not only would he get the flat to a C rating but the flat could also benefit from the additional space in the bathroom by removing the hot water cylinder cupboard in the bathroom.

The Outcome

By getting a MEES report the landlord was able to take the guess work out of what the rating would be.

There are obviously additional costs involved to produce a MEES report, but by liaising with his EPC Assessor, exact answers could be given, thereby avoiding any wasted money or unpleasant shocks once the property was finished and re-assessed.

Keeping Documentary Evidence of Insulation Work for EPC Purposes

When an EPC Assessor generates an EPC, they must have photographic or documentary evidence to support the data entry into the software.

Since insulation for internal walls, flat roofs, and sloping roofs is often not visible, the Assessor will need documentation such as an invoice, schedule of work, or a letter from the contractor indicating the insulation’s thickness.

If you carried out the work yourself, then you can produce the documentation yourself and put yourself down as a project manager.

Documentary evidence of the work done is better than simply showing photos of the work that you carried out and is more readily acceptable if the EPC is called for an audit.

This evidence must also include the property’s address. The Assessor must be able to provide this information if the EPC is called for an audit.

So what I’m saying here is don’t just carry out the work, but made sure there is suitable documentation that you can provide for the EPC and any future EPCs.

Project Costs

So, we come to the main item of this project – what did it all cost to get the EPC rating of a flat in Coventry from an E rating to a C rating?

Here is a breakdown of the total cost as at 2024.

To get the original EPC carried out – £69.00

To get a MEES report produced – £120.00

Installing a High Heat Retention Storage Heater – £1,200

Installing 72.5 mm insulated plasterboard to 39m2 of internal wall insulation – £4,600

To fit an under sink instantaneous water heater and an electric shower – £565

To update the EPC on completion of the work – £69

Total project cost – £6,623

For all your EPC needs in Coventry contact us