Propertymark outlines its recommendations to Department for the Economy to improve Northern Irish properties’ energy efficiency

Propertymark has outlined its recommendations to Northern Ireland’s Department for the Economy as to how it can improve the energy efficiency of the country’s properties following a consultation on support for low carbon heating in residential buildings.

The consultation is part of the Northern Ireland Executive’s aim to achieve net zero by 2050.

The Executive published ‘The Path to Net Zero Energy’ in December 2021, which laid out an Energy Strategy intended to guarantee that Northern Ireland has the skills and technologies needed, and can lead the behavioural change necessary, to hit net zero.

As a result, the Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 provided a legislative target of meeting at least a 100 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050. To achieve this, the Department for the Economy is pursuing investment in air to water, ground to water and water to water heat pump technology.

Propertymark has always supported efforts to boost the energy efficiency of buildings but has been sceptical in how energy efficiency has been addressed across the UK where progress has been too slow, and where financial help has been ineffective.

The professional body has stressed that measures to improve the energy efficiency of properties in Northern Ireland must take into consideration the huge range of environments buildings are in and how they are designed. This is because some new technologies are not feasible in certain environments and will be more costly to be installed in some types of properties, especially when 36 per cent of Northern Ireland’s population resides in rural homes where installing heat pumps is not always the most appropriate solution.

To address this issue, Propertymark recommends that the Department for the Economy considers introducing measures that make buildings as energy efficient as they can be and there are support mechanisms in place to support agents, landlords and homeowners. This must include a thorough exemptions procedure with simple rules and guidance for how to enhance the energy efficiency of properties that struggle to adopt all or some new technologies.

There must also be sufficient financial help for landlords and homeowners to be able to afford new technologies or other measures like tax incentives for homeowners and landlords who intend to retrofit their properties. Homes will be less energy efficient if they cannot afford to install more energy efficient technologies.

Finally, financial help should be linked to boosting the energy efficiency of the property rather than the uptake of specific technologies. Any financial support must concentrate on a variety of choices to enhance the energy efficiency of properties that cannot install the fresh technology they need.

Henry Griffith, Policy and Campaigns Officer at Propertymark, said:

“We acknowledge the importance of investing in technology that will improve the energy efficiency of homes and reduce heating bills. However, the focus on a narrow range of technology will inevitably leave some people unable to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. Depending on minimum energy efficiency targets which we know are being considered, this could leave thousands of homes with no improvements at all. In addition to investing in new technologies, financial support must be made to enable all homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes through multiple means. That way, more homes can be made more energy efficient.”