Taking place on 24^th April, the fourth Online PEPA Conference was another success for the Property Energy Professionals Association (PEPA) and industry at large. Welcoming around 250 attendees throughout the day, the conference featured speakers from across government and industry, with delegates benefitting from up-to-the-minute information on upcoming methodologies and policy direction relating to the energy performance and retrofitting of buildings.

The Morning Session:

We started the day with an opening address by Andrew Parkin, Chair of PEPA. This was closely followed by a keynote speech from Rt Hon Caroline Flint, Chair of the Committee on Fuel Poverty, who gave an impassioned speech around why our mission matters and why we cannot forget about fuel poverty in the pursuit of Net Zero.

We then heard from Henry Turner-Chambers, Home Energy Model Technical Lead at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DEZNZ) and Keeran Jugdoyal, Head of the Net Zero Buildings Hub and the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), who provided up-to-date information on RdSAP 10, the Home Energy Model (HEM) and the upcoming EPC Reform Consultation.

Conference regular, Andrej Miller, Head of ECO at DESNZ, then talked around a range of subjects, including the current thinking surrounding government funding schemes, and proceeded to answer a range of questions on other DESNZ policy areas, including Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES).

This was followed by the ever excellent Prof Richard Fitton of Salford University who spoke about his fascinating Energy House 2.0 facility and called out to the delegates for their contributions to the soon to be released consultation on the Retrofit Assessor standard (BS 40104).

The Afternoon Session:

After lunch, we saw a new concept for an online conference; a round table forum of Commercial Energy Assessment, chaired by Andrew Parkin and featuring members of the schemes and experienced energy assessors, Jonny Murton and Martin Gibbons. This saw some excellent debate on EPC reform, MEES v2 for the commercial private rented sector and how to tackle compliance via better enforcement. There was a strong call to action for energy assessors to speak to their local MPs and those running for office, in what will certainly prove to be an election year.

The conference closed following the regular ‘Schemes Q&A’ session, where delegates could ask questions on any topic of their choosing. This was definitely an informative hour of discussion and debate, chaired by Catherine Garrido.

Throughout the day, online polls were run for each section; asking a range of questions and the results were reviewed in the Chairman’s summary.

What’s Next For PEPA?

Presentations, recordings and CPD certificates will be released to delegates in the next few weeks and a date has been set for the face-to-face PEPA Conference in Derby – the 24^th September 2024. This is earlier than usual; due to an attempt to avoid the upcoming election.