SBEM’s are a calculation of the carbon emissions for a commercial property.  They are calculated against a notional building target building in order to gain compliance.  Unlike EPC’s SBEM’s have a clear pass/fail mark highlighted under the BER/TER (Building Emissions Rating/Target Emissions rating).

 

The calculation methodology looks at the building fabric, lighting levels and HVAC (heating and ventilation system) with all required to meet the minimum levels set out under the latest building regulation edition (Part L2) this is then broken down under the BRUKL document for building control to sign off against. 

 

The critical sign off is under the BER to TER however any red marks shall generally be queried by Building Control, this tends to involve the area weighted U’values for the building envelop and solar gains.

 

Presently there is no requirement to reduce solar gains in the commercial environment, however should the building be conditioned by Air conditioning the solar gains can often cause issues due to the cooling system be overworked to deal with the additional heat from the sun.

 

Building Regulation Part L2 update 2021

This was updated in 2022, specifically the cutoff was June the 15th 2022.  This is an important date as any building that has planning pre this date falls under the old regulations which favoured Gas against Electricity and did not require notional PV against.  BPER also came into effect from this date.  This is the carbon emissions for the power to be used being received to site (ie cost in carbon for electricity vs gas before consumption)

Both the BPER and BER must pass the BRUKL report for the building to now be signed off without concession from building control.
The BPER has caused issues in the passing the of SBEM, notably due to the BPER only being offset by renewables or Air conditioning, Air conditioning because for every KW of power input