A group of trade bodies representing the commercial property sector have written to the Scottish Government, appealing against new energy standard regulations.
Under new legislation, buildings will have to meet energy standards. The Sullivan Panel, launched in 2007, suggested that carbon emission targets could only be met if energy standards were put in place by 2013.
However, many experts believe that such changes could end up costing businesses up to £10,000; money which many firms do not have in this struggling economy. Bodies such as the Scottish Property Federation, Scottish Building Federation and Federation of Master Builders have all argued in a letter to ministers that Scotland may end up becoming too expensive for property owners to invest in.
Commercial property development may be halted under these new changes. The green agenda needs to be sorted, but at the same time, industrial analysts suggest that tough guidelines on new-builds completely bypasses what is more important, which is the aim to improve energy efficiency in existing buildings.
Scottish Building Federation's executive director Michael Levack said: "A policy focused on imposing further regulation on those sections of the built environment that already attain the highest energy efficiency standards simply does not justify the cost or wider economic and social risk. A comprehensive retrofit programme to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings would have a far greater impact on cutting carbon emissions."
The trade bodies are now asking for the Government to put a halt on any regulations, whilst more research is carried out into how much of an impact these tough rules will actually have. This is particularly important considering that a lot of changes have occurred since the Panel originally compiled their report back in 2007.