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Landlords unprepared for new energy rules in Scotland

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Mat Lown

Mat is TFT's Chief ESG & Knowledge Officer. He's a chartered building surveyor and a chartered project management surveyor with more than 25 years of working with many leading property companies, investors and asset managers.

Over the last 10 years, Mat’s focus has shifted towards sustainability and in 2007 he founded TFT’s sustainability consultancy. Mat and his team help TFT’s clients to understand the specific sustainability risks and opportunities when making property investment and development decisions. Ultimately, he would like to see sustainability becoming part of what constitutes best practice.

Mat’s passionate about sustainability and finds that writing and lecturing regularly for RICS and for other organisations is a means of expressing and sharing this enthusiasm. Mat’s articles regularly appear in Construction News, Estates Gazette, RICS and Property Week, and he is a lead author of the RICS Guidance Note, ‘Sustainability – improving performance in existing buildings’. Also of note is Mat’s thesis, ‘Building a Greener Future’, which was published by the CIOB in 1991. He is a member of several sustainability committees including the British Property Federation, British Council for Offices, CIC and Revo.

Mat is interested in how great buildings and places can create delight and he particularly enjoys the creative re-use of existing buildings. The South Bank is a great example of how a place can be rejuvenated by considered new interventions and careful restoration of the original building fabric.

Mat

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From 1 September 2016, owners of buildings greater than 1,000 sq m will be required to provide an Action Plan when they sell or rent out their property or part thereof. They will also be required to ensure that energy improvement data, including the Action Plan and Energy Performance Certificate, are submitted to the Scottish EPC Register.Analysis by Tuffin Ferraby Taylor has highlighted that somewhere in the region of 70% of commercial property owners are yet to prepare Action Plans, in accordance with the new regulations, containing measures that will improve the energy performance of the building and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.Advising on these forthcoming changes Mat Lown (TFT's Partner and Head of Sustainability), said:

Forty per cent of UK carbon emissions come from buildings. These new regulations from the Scottish Government should reduce energy use, emissions and – importantly – running costs for larger, commercial buildings. However, landlords must be pro-active so they don’t fall foul of local authorities. If they don’t act on these new energy regulations, they could begin to rack up significant fines.We believe the regulations offer an enlightened approach to energy performance by making relevant compliance information publicly available and recognising that such regulation is an essential part of implementing Scotland’s energy efficiency programme over the next 20 years. Critically, Scotland also acknowledges that energy efficiency is a National Infrastructure Priority.