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subject: Obtaining an Air Conditioning Certificate - A Guidance! [print this page]

Obtaining an Air Conditioning Certificate - A Guidance!

If you control the operation of an air conditioning system affected by these

Regulations, it is your responsibility to:

ensure an Air Conditioning inspection has been done in accordance with the requirements

and timetable of the Regulations

keep the most recent inspection report made by an energy assessor

give any inspection report kept by you to any person taking over your

responsibilities with respect to the control of the air conditioning system

If you have taken over control of an air conditioning system from 4 January

2011 and you haven't been given an inspection report, you must ensure the

system is inspected within three months of taking over such control.

The person who controls the operation of the system is the person who

controls the technical functioning of the system, not someone who does

no more than adjust the temperature.

The owner of the system will usually control the operation of the system even

where day to day operation is contracted out to another. Where a tenant

takes total responsibility for a building and its services (e.g. full repairing and

insuring lease), then the tenant will control the system.

Where the operation and management of the system is carried out on a dayto-

day Facilities Management basis, or a servicing company provides routine

servicing and maintenance, the contract may specify the FM or servicing

company as the controller of the system with responsibility for ensuring that

inspections are carried out. Depending on the terms of such a contract the

FM or servicing company may accordingly become responsible under the

regulations also. Even in such cases, however, the landlord or tenant retains a

parallel duty to ensure the air conditioning inspection has been done.

Where air conditioning systems are installed locally by a tenant, the

responsibility will lie with the tenant as they own the system.

An energy inspection of an air conditioning system must be carried out by

an accredited energy assessor who is a current member of an approved

accreditation scheme. The appropriate methodology is as described in CIBSE

TM44 or equivalent.

The energy assessor must provide a written report of the inspection to the

person who has control of the operation of the air conditioning system as

soon as practicable after the inspection.

Government approved accreditation schemes control the quality of air conditioning

inspections by ensuring energy assessors are competent and

possess the appropriate skills to conduct energy assessments. To become a

member of an accreditation scheme, energy assessors will need to:

demonstrate their competence, either by having a recognised qualification

from an awarding body or approved prior experience and learning

equivalent to the National Occupational Standard requirements

maintain appropriate professional indemnity cover

update their skills and knowledge regularly

participate in the accreditation body's quality assurance procedures

abide by the scheme's advice and guidance

Approved accreditation schemes for energy assessors for air conditioning

can be found on the Department for Communities and Local Government

website at www.communities.gov.uk/epbd.

The assessor's report should be kept in a safe place so that it can be used to

inform subsequent inspections. It is recommended that the inspection report

should be kept in the building log-book, together with ongoing maintenance

and/or energy records

More recent buildings may already be provided with a building log-book

satisfying the requirements of Part L of the Building Regulations to provide

the owner with information about the building, its fixed services and their

maintenance requirements. The CIBSE Log Book Toolkit provides guidance

and a template for the preparation of the log book, and also on its subsequent use by the building manager. The building log-book would be

the most suitable place to keep records of the air conditioning inspection,

together with other such inspection results e.g. F Gas inspections. Where

a log-book does not exist, it would be useful to begin a fi le to keep these

records.

The information that would be helpful to keep in the building log-book, or in

a separate fi le if a formal log-book is not available, includes:

the preparatory details as listed in Sections B1 (simpler packaged systems)

or C1 (more extensive and centralised systems) of TM44

a copy of the inspector's full signed report from the air conditioning

inspection

the recommendation report and any data used to prepare an EPC for the

building (if one has been required)

the advisory report produced to accompany a DEC if one has been

required

the reports from any other regular inspections (such as inspections for

refrigerant leakage) involving the building's air conditioning or heating

systems

This information can then be provided for subsequent energy inspections,

and the time needed to carry out such inspections can be minimised.

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