Delivering SBEM modelling and EPC certification that secured a top-tier rating for a newly built, unconditioned industrial unit ahead of letting.
Project Overview
- Client: Airfield Business Units
- Sector: Commercial & Industrial
- Location: Winkleigh Airfield, Devon
- Services Provided: SBEM Calculation, Commercial EPC Certification
- Scale: 1,026 m² single-storey industrial/warehouse unit, built with no heating or cooling system installed
- Target: Part L2A (2013) compliance, verified through EPC certification ahead of the unit’s letting
The Challenge
The unit was built as an unconditioned shell – no heating or cooling system installed at all, with any comfort conditioning left to a future tenant’s own fit-out. That meant its Part L2A compliance and EPC rating would rest entirely on the strength of its fabric and fixed services: cladding performance, rooflight specification and lighting efficiency, rather than any heating system efficiency to fall back on – with the rating also determining who the unit could legally be let to once complete.
The Solution
SBEM Modelling & EPC Certification
We modelled the completed unit’s Kingspan composite wall and roof cladding, translucent rooflights and high-efficiency LED high-bay lighting under Part L2A (2013), verifying the as-built specification against the client before finalising the model. With no heating or cooling system in place, the assessment’s outcome depended almost entirely on the building envelope and lighting performing as specified – a more exposed position than a conventionally heated building, where a lower-spec fabric can sometimes be masked by mechanical services doing the work instead.
The Outcome
The completed unit achieved an EPC A rating (score 25), with a building emission rate of 13.64 kgCO₂/m² per year – comfortably ahead of the letting threshold (properties can be let from A+ to E), and stronger than the register’s own benchmark for a typical newly built equivalent unit, which sits at a B (32). It’s a clear result for a speculative, unconditioned shell: fabric and lighting alone were enough to outperform what’s typically expected of a new build in this class, giving the unit a marketable certificate ahead of being let.
