Brexit Boasts Business As Usual For Building Services

The building services industry should assume that European regulations that currently affect the UK will still be in force immediately after Brexit in 2019, says CIBSE technical director Hywel Davies.

‘Brexit will change nothing immediately – at least in terms of legislation that affects our industry,’ said Davies, who supplied a list of regulations that would initially remain in force, including: Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and Display Energy Certificates (DECs); minimum energy efficiency standards; the F-Gas Regulation; the Energy-related Products (ErP); Building Regulations; and the Climate Change Act.

‘Several are a mixture of UK and EU law, which would be extremely tricky and counterproductive to unpick. The government has recognised this and provided welcome clarity on the way forward,’ Davies added.

He pointed out that the government had also committed to carbon-reduction targets beyond 2032 and that the UK Climate Change Act remains in force, with the aim of a 57% reduction in emissions by 2030. ‘Dismantling policies that are already contributing to these reductions would be illogical,’ he said.

The Committee for Climate Change identified a gap of 100 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent that needs to be tackled to meet long-term goals.