It’s been five years since the then-Conservative government consulted on raising Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) for non-domestic buildings. The ensuing years of limbo, where the industry has known that tightening was coming but not when and by how much, has meant that it has been impossible to plan with confidence or commit capital decisively, leading to increasing frustration at the silence from Westminster.

Last month, that silence was finally broken. The Government’s interim response confirms what many had hoped for - a single, fixed target of EPC B by 2031 for commercial buildings over 1,000sqm in England and Wales. The previously proposed interim milestone of EPC C by 2027 has been dropped entirely and the size threshold introduced.

Whilst this is welcome news, clarity of direction is not the same as clarity of detail, and there are still significant questions to answer before landlords can act with full confidence.

A Single Horizon Changes Everything
The removal of the 2027 interim step is more significant than it might first appear. Rather than forcing landlords into a two-stage compliance process where works can be phased, the policy now creates a single, fixed horizon. That shift in structure changes the economics of decision- making fundamentally.