Build-to-rent and student accommodation EPCs from £28 per unit

Each self-contained dwelling needs its own EPC before first letting. On a newly completed scheme those are normally produced as on-construction certificates from as-built SAP data, which means the assessment sits on the back of the Part L compliance work rather than a physical survey. Where a scheme has converted or existing units, or the as-built data is incomplete, an RdSAP survey route is used instead. Amenity space that is genuinely non-domestic — a gym, co-working floor, reception or lettable commercial unit — needs a separate non-domestic EPC produced with SBEM. Cluster flats in student accommodation are treated according to how the units are actually let and self-contained, which is a judgement worth getting right before certificates are ordered rather than after.

Large schemes complete in sections, and the letting programme rarely waits for practical completion of the whole building. We certify by core, floor or block so units can be marketed and let as they become available, then close out the remaining plots as they finish. That phasing needs planning against the construction programme, so the earlier we are involved the fewer gaps appear between a unit being ready and being legally lettable.

Modern rented schemes almost always share plant — a district or communal heat network, heat interface units in each flat, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, sometimes a rooftop air source array or photovoltaics. These are exactly the inputs that a rushed assessment defaults or omits, and the result is a whole building of units rated a band or two below what was actually built and paid for. We record the real system, its distribution losses and its controls, so the ratings reflect the specification and the investment case behind it stands up.

A lodged certificate for each unit, a non-domestic EPC for the commercial and amenity areas, and a single unit schedule showing type, floor area, rating, potential rating and expiry. That schedule is what the letting team needs to publish ratings on listings without chasing PDFs, and what the asset team needs at refinance or sale when a lender or purchaser asks for the building's energy position in one document.

We work directly with developers, main contractors, employer's agents and operators, and coordinate with whoever produced the design-stage SAP so the as-built assessment reflects what was installed rather than what was drawn. Where we are also doing the Part L compliance work, the as-built calculations and the on-construction EPCs come from the same dataset, which removes an entire class of mismatch between the compliance evidence and the certificates.