NABERS UK is an adaptation of the highly successful rating programme NABERS that operates in Australia. NABERS provides simple, reliable, and comparable sustainability measurement you can trust across building sectors. The rating system has driven financial growth and solid returns in portfolios across building sectors. It has directed corporate procurement by clearly demonstrating their operational performance and sustainability achievements.
Since 2024, CIBSE Certification has been the sole administrator of NABERS UK which is an energy efficiency rating scheme designed to measure and verify the energy performance of buildings in the UK. It delivers a simple, reliable, and independent measure of how efficiently a building uses energy, providing transparency and confidence for owners, investors and tenants.
Megan Frost, CIBSE Certification Marketing Executive, sat down with Antonette Easwaranathan, Technical Officer of CIBSE Certification Ltd, to explore NABERS UK service offering, and what the benefits are for the commercial sector. NABERS UK is an important and required scheme to fill the gap in the market for assessing operational energy in use for commercial buildings in the UK. CIBSE Certification is well-equipped to manage NABERS UK effectively, drawing on its extensive years of experience in administrating multiple certification services in the UK.
As CIBSE takes on this new role, how do you see this partnership advancing energy efficiency in the built environment, especially with regards to addressing the performance gap in commercial buildings?
NABERS UK is a unique and proven methodology that looks at how a building is being operated in terms of energy efficiency. There is no other scheme available within CIBSE Certification service offerings that involves energy in use within the commercial building sector. The partnership between CIBSE Certification and NABERS UK fills the gap not only within CIBSE service offerings but also in the wider UK market.
With CIBSE’s commitment to advancing energy efficiency, in the built environment, NABERS UK is a complimenting tool introduced when the industry has the most need and desire for it. The current scheme applies only to office buildings, but we plan to expand to other types of buildings in the coming years.
NABERS UK was launched with a focus on measuring actual in-use energy performance. How does CIBSE’s expertise and leadership in energy efficiency position us to enhance the impact and success of the scheme?
CIBSE has a strong reputation for its expertise in building energy efficiency, and its leadership, significantly enhances the impact and success of NABERS UK:
- CIBSE provides high-level technical knowledge in areas such as energy management, heating, cooling, lighting, ventilation, and renewable energy systems. This expertise is crucial in supporting NABERS UK’s goal of measuring actual in-use performance.
- CIBSE’S comprehensive training programs and knowledge resources helps raise awareness and educate building professionals about NABERS UK.
- CIBSE's ongoing research and evidence-based approach to energy efficiency provides a strong foundation for refining and enhancing the NABERS UK scheme.
This aligns with CIBSE’s mission of promoting sustainability in the built environment, supporting long-term reductions in carbon emissions and energy consumption.
CIBSE’s technical expertise, leadership in energy efficiency, industry influence, and commitment to sustainability can help amplify the effectiveness and success of NABERS UK in promoting and tracking actual in-use energy performance across the UK.
With nearly 150 office buildings already setting NABERS UK Design for Performance targets, what are the key benefits for building owners and operators who choose to participate in NABERS UK?
NABERS UK Design for Performance is the process in which developers or building owners commit to designing, constructing, and commissioning a new office or major refurbishment to achieve a targeted NABERS UK energy rating. This approach ensures that energy efficiency is prioritised from the early design stages through to completion, aligning the project’s performance with measurable sustainability goals.
By using NABERS UK Design for Performance, the building owners are making a public commitment that the new building or the refurbishment will be designed and built to a high rating. The NABERS UK Design for Performance ratings empower investors and tenants to make informed decisions based on energy efficiency, ensuring your building stands out in the marketplace.
Buildings that achieve high NABERS UK ratings stand out in the market, making them more attractive to potential tenants, buyers, and investors. Sustainability credentials can be a key differentiator in the competitive real estate UK market.
CIBSE Certification’s Building Register is the official list of all the buildings that joined the scheme from RIBA stage 2 of a development. NABERS UK Building Ratings
As the NABERS UK Scheme Administrator, how do you envision CIBSE Certification’s role in further driving transparency and accountability in building energy performance across the UK?
NABERS UK is a robust, transparent, and consistent methodology focusing on annual energy in use. CIBSE Certification’s role in further driving transparency and accountability in building energy performance across the UK is critical to the market as the rating system reflects the real efficiency of tenants, and occupants' buildings.
As CIBSE Certification is the NABERS UK Scheme Administrator, it provides technical support for trainees and assessors with the support of NABERS. The Licensed Assessors are a team of expert sustainability consultants who are trained and accredited to conducts NABERS UK ratings. CIBSE Certification’s aim is to continuously increase the number of licenced assessors with the goal to achieve further accountability in building energy performance across the UK.
All certificates are subject to level 1 audit and 5% of all lodgements go through level 2 audit. CIBSE Certification continuously review and acknowledge the feedback from NABERS UK Steering Committee, members of the Independent Design Review Panel and wider industry to improve its services.
Could you walk us through how CIBSE’s technical expertise, particularly in certification and standards development, will support the continued evolution of NABERS UK?
CIBSE’s technical expertise, particularly in certification and development of standards, plays a pivotal role in the continued evolution of NABERS UK. Over many years, CIBSE has developed a deep understanding of building performance, covering a broad range of assessment types through a holistic energy management approach. This extensive experience equips CIBSE with the knowledge needed to effectively adopt and apply the NABERS scheme to UK buildings.
Additionally, CIBSE’s comprehensive understanding of UK regulations, standards, and market requirements, gained from its prominent position within the industry, allows it to effectively shape the evolution of NABERS UK. By staying informed of the needs and wants of the market, CIBSE can ensure that NABERS UK evolves in a way that is aligned with current industry demands and expectations. This enables the scheme to remain relevant and continue to drive improvements in building performance, sustainability, and energy efficiency across the UK.
How does CIBSE Certification’s commitment to advancing decarbonisation and net-zero buildings complement the goals of NABERS UK and its focus on real-time energy performance?
CIBSE Certification’s commitment to advancing decarbonisation and net-zero buildings aligns seamlessly with the goals of NABERS UK, particularly its focus on real-time energy performance.
NABERS UK’s real-time assessments are crucial for tracking operational performance, while CIBSE's rigorous certification standards and tools, like NABERS UK Energy for Office, drive decarbonisation in existing buildings. This integration fosters measurable improvements in energy efficiency and supports the broader goal of net-zero emissions. Through its technical expertise and certification processes, CIBSE ensures NABERS UK evolves to meet the UK’s sustainability and reach the 2050 net-zero targets, helping buildings actively contribute to decarbonisation and a more sustainable future.
This partnership ensures that buildings not only perform well in terms of energy use but are actively contributing to decarbonisation efforts, making them key players in the UK's journey toward a sustainable future. With huge success in Australia, including, 90% of buildings meeting their agreed energy targets, and a 33% reduction in energy usage over all buildings certified, this gives NABERS UK the quality assurance needed in the UK market. CIBSE Certification is focused on evolving NABERS UK to become an Operational Energy methodology to achieve an equivalence of Net Zero Carbon Building Standard.
NABERS UK’s partnership with key UK industry organisations and NABERS Australia has been key to its success. What do you think sets NABERS UK apart from other energy performance schemes in terms of its effectiveness and credibility?
NABERS UK differentiates itself from other energy performance schemes through its proven methodology, comprehensive approach, and focus on real-time energy performance, key factors contributing to its success. Originally implemented in Australia to reduce operational energy consumption in existing buildings, it has been effectively adapted for the UK market.
Unlike other schemes that only measure total annual energy consumption, NABERS UK encourages building owners and occupiers to monitor every aspect of energy end use. This helps identify areas for optimisation and drives both parties to take actionable steps to reduce energy usage. NABERS UK offers base building, tenant, and whole-building assessments, providing detailed insights and fostering collaboration between owners and tenants in improving energy efficiency.
In summary, NABERS UK’s holistic, evidence-based methodology supports both operational efficiency and environmental responsibility. Its focus on building occupancy, hours of operation and climate, into the calculation methodology and use benchmarks to convert energy intensity to provide an easily comparable high quality star rating to the building. This helps not to penalise the buildings for long hours of operation, but benefits building owners to manage the space in a resourceful manner.
Given CIBSE’s extensive experience with UKAS-accredited certifications and technical standards, how does this expertise influence the way NABERS UK is administered and its long-term sustainability?
CIBSE Certification has been UKAS-accredited since 2007 which significantly influences the administration of NABERS UK and its long-term sustainability. CIBSE Certification ensures that NABERS UK is managed with a technically robust approach, ensuring credibility, accuracy, and consistency in the performance assessment of buildings.
UKAS accreditation guarantees that certification processes are impartial and follow a clear, internationally recognised framework, providing assurance to stakeholders, including operators, and tenants, that the ratings are trustworthy and robust. CIBSE Certification’s experience with UKAS-accredited certifications influences NABERS UK to make sure it complies with industry standards for reliability and transparency. NABERS UK operates and is administrated in the same way although not related to UKAS.
CIBSE’s knowledge of developing and applying technical standards allows NABERS UK to remain aligned with the latest regulatory developments, market needs, and best practices. CIBSE's understanding of the UK's regulatory standards means that NABERS UK can evolve in a way that reflects current and future energy performance requirements, including supporting the transition to net-zero buildings and decarbonisation goals.
CIBSE's role in developing and maintaining technical standards also helps ensure that NABERS UK remains relevant and adaptable. By leveraging its technical expertise, CIBSE Certification ensures that the scheme is not only focused on measuring current building performance but also drives continuous long-term improvement.
With CIBSE Certification’s profits being reinvested into enhancing the built environment, how does this model contribute to advancing energy efficiency, and how do you see it benefiting the wider built environment sector?
CIBSE Certification’s model of reinvesting profits into enhancing the built environment plays a critical role in advancing energy efficiency across the sector. This approach ensures that the financial success of the certification process directly benefits sustainability initiatives, research, and the development of new standards, and resources aimed at improving building performance.
By reinvesting profits, CIBSE Certification contributes to publications, the knowledge that helps engineers deliver services to their clients. Highlighting that profits allow CIBSE to research and publish more guides and Embodied Carbon TMs guides.
These investments support innovations in building technologies, energy management systems, and decarbonisation strategies, which are essential for helping buildings meet the increasing demands for sustainability and net-zero 2050 targets.
In summary, CIBSE Certification’s reinvestment model contributes to advancing energy efficiency by funding innovation, supporting education and training, and driving industry-wide improvements.