PAS 2035 released: A new standard for retrofit

Elmhurst is delighted to report that the long-awaited Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2035 has been published.

As Members will know Elmhurst has been heavily involved in many of the working groups that spun out of Each Home Counts (AKA the Bonfield Review), as well as the PAS 2030 and PAS 2035 working groups which implemented the recommendations. We are therefore delighted to announce that the specification, which is likely to cause a revolution in the retrofit of energy efficiency measures in domestic homes in the UK, has now been published.

The standard embraces a 'fabric first' philosophy to energy efficiency improvement, and that energy assessments are to be the start of “deep retrofit” improvement plans.

The major aspects of a PAS 2035 include; Retrofit Advisors –able to give front line advice to homeowners on what can be done to reduce energy consumption, both by making improvements and changing behaviour. A Retrofit Assessment, undertaken by a Retrofit Assessor, which includes  an Energy Assessment of the property, an Occupancy Assessment and a Condition Assessment, adequate for the Retrofit Coordinator to develop a Medium Term Improvement Plan for the property. The cornerstone of the process is a Retrofit Coordinator who will take the output from the Retrofit Assessment (the energy assessment, the occupancy assessment and the condition assessment) and document a Medium Term Improvement Plan for the next 25 years. The Retrofit Coordinator is required to be satisfied that the condition of the property, especially related to ventilation, is appropriate for the building, the occupants and the intended measures. Only then can the installation of measures commence, sequencing the measures to maximise long term benefit. It is the Retrofit Coordinator that commissions the design of the measures, commissions the installer and acts as the homeowners advocate if things go wrong. Retrofit Designers will design improvement measures paying particular attention to interfaces (junctions) where multiple improvement measures meet.

Elmhurst has been involved in the design of the new PAS 2035 with the wider industry and has done its best to keep the requirements pragmatic and realistic. Whilst originally conceived as being a process for all retrofit projects, including the “able to pay” market, BEIS have already indicated their wish that PAS 2035 is made a requirement of future ECO policy meaning that the process could be applied to up to 150,000 homes per annum.

You will be hearing a lot more about PAS 2035 from Elmhurst very shortly. In the meantime if you want a copy of the new PAS 2035 click here.

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Article Published: 18th June 2019