[Default] On Wed, 22 Aug 2012 19:06:51 +0100, a certain chimpanzee,
"David WE Roberts" , randomly hit the keyboard
and wrote:

People we have spoken to, including our architect, suggest that to offer a
commercial service providing SAP calculations one has to be certified - we
know of one person who can't offer the service because here certification
hasa recently lapsed.

If one is producing an Energy Performance Certificate in connection
with a house sale, etc., then the person has to be accredited. To
produce calculations to check whether your proposed extension
complies, no formal registration or qualifications is necessary.

Our architect mentioned that the person who was coincidentally our BCO was
also certified to provide SAP calculations, and he approached him to see if
he could do this for us.
So happens that he is on holiday.

In the early days of SAP ratings (IIRC 1995 or thereabouts), I and a
few colleagues went through the formal training; ostensibly to make
sure we knew what we were looking at when we received SAP calcs. Due
to restrictions on what work Local Government could do, Building
Control wasn't allowed to carry out SAP ratings when they were legally
required. As an individual, providing SAP calculations for a job I'm
checking is tantamount to drawing up plans; a sackable offence.

LABC Consult (the private company owned by all local authorities) does
offer SAP calcs, maybe using some LA directly-employed BCOs, but the
BCO checking your plans sees none of the fees from that (except in so
far as it helps to maintain the LA share of the BC work out there).

As I commented humourously (do you have a sense of humour?) at first sight
this could seem a bit dodgy but I see no conflict of interest and neither
has anyone else involved.

The smiley wasn't evident, and I'm not amused by the almost accepted
assumption that Local Government Officers are on the take.

If not, can you just try to be helpful?

Shant!
--
Hugo Nebula
"If no-one on the internet wants a piece of this,
just how far from the pack have I strayed"?