Green certification may be asking too much
Delivering tenants and prospective buyers with in-depth reports on an office's energy rating may be asking too much of some property owners, according to an industry leader.
Chief executive of the Property Council of Australia Peter Verwer has commented to Business Day that the full mandatory disclosure measures are premature and do not give investors enough time to deliver results.
On November 2 Verwer asserted: "The government should have provided a lot more breathing space for industry to get the assistance to comply with the legislation."
Commercial property owners are now required to supply tenants and potential purchasers with an energy efficiency certificate.
As part of the procedure a tenancy lighting assessment measuring the power density in terms of watts per square meter must now be completed.
Verwer contests that this part was initially meant to be an interim requirement but has been included with minimal warning and was not properly pilot tested.
He stated: "It took the department 10 months to develop the lighting tool or rating system and 10 weeks to implement it.
"It's simply unfair ... there has been no education.''
Verwer said that the industry otherwise welcomed the majority of the new certification requirements and was committed to providing interested parties with the information they needed to make informed decisions.
