06 Oct Does Your Building Need an EPC?

Here’s What South African Building Owners Need to Know

If you’re responsible for a commercial or public building, there’s a question worth asking:

Does this building need an Energy Performance Certificate?

For many building owners, the answer isn’t immediately obvious.

And with South Africa’s EPC compliance deadline having passed on 7 December 2025, it’s no longer a question that can comfortably sit on the “we’ll get to it” list.

So, which buildings are actually affected — and what should you do if yours is one of them?

First: what is an EPC?

An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) indicates how much energy is being used to operate a building.

It provides the building with an A–G energy performance rating, with A representing very high energy efficiency and G representing low energy efficiency.

The rating is based on measured energy consumption and compared against the applicable South African energy-performance benchmarks.

In other words, an EPC turns something that can otherwise feel rather abstract — “How efficiently is this building actually operating?” — into a measurable performance rating.

So, which buildings need one?

This is where it gets more specific.

South Africa’s EPC regulations cover four main occupancy classes:

A1 — Entertainment & Public Assembly

Places where people gather for entertainment, eating, drinking, recreation and public assembly.

Think venues, restaurants, halls and similar facilities.

A2 — Theatrical & Indoor Sport

Buildings used for theatrical, cinematic or indoor sporting activities.

A3 — Places of Instruction

Educational facilities including schools, colleges and universities.

G1 — Offices

Large multi-storey or stand-alone office buildings, banks and consulting rooms.

But occupancy classification is only part of the equation.

Size matters too

The applicable minimum net floor areas are:

Public buildings: over 1,000 m²

Private buildings: over 2,000 m²

And there is another important consideration.

The building generally needs to have been in operation for at least two years, and the regulations include provisions relating to major renovations before the assessment period.

So a newly completed building isn’t necessarily in the same position as an established building that has been operating for years.

What about mixed-use buildings?

This is where things can get a little more complicated.

A building may contain multiple uses — residential, commercial, retail, office or other occupancy types — and determining whether an EPC is required can depend on how those uses are classified and whether the qualifying component can be separately identified and assessed.

There are specific criteria that can apply to mixed-use buildings, so “it’s a mixed-use building” isn’t, by itself, enough to determine whether an EPC is required.

If you’re unsure, it’s worth establishing the position before assuming you’re either exempt or required to comply.

What buildings don’t automatically qualify?

Not every building over a particular size needs an EPC.

For example, residential dwellings are not within the four qualifying occupancy classes, while certain hospitality classifications such as H1 hotels are treated separately from the qualifying A1, A2, A3 and G1 categories.

Buildings that have been operational for less than two years also fall outside the standard existing-building requirement.

Major renovations can also affect when an EPC assessment becomes applicable.

The details matter.

And then there’s the deadline…

The original EPC deadline was 7 December 2025.

That date has passed.

SANEDI states that failure to publicly display the required EPC is an offence under the applicable legislation, with penalties of up to R5 million and/or five years’ imprisonment.

Which means the useful question now isn’t:

“When do I need to get my EPC?”

It’s:

“Does my building need one — and if so, where do I start?”

The certificate is only the visible part

For building owners, getting an EPC isn’t necessarily as simple as requesting a certificate.

There is groundwork behind the rating.

The building needs to be understood.

Its assets need to be identified.

Energy consumption needs to be established from the available information and records.

Relevant building and energy data needs to be gathered and prepared for assessment.

And the EPC itself must be issued by an appropriately accredited professional/body in accordance with the applicable standards.

The quality of the information going into the assessment matters.

What does an EPC give you?

A rating.

But potentially something more useful than that.

It gives you a baseline.

Once you understand how a building is performing, you can start asking better questions:

Where is energy being consumed?

Where could efficiency improve?

Which systems are contributing most to consumption?

Could infrastructure improvements make a measurable difference?

And where does renewable energy fit into the picture?

An EPC doesn’t answer all of those questions.

But it gives you a better place from which to start asking them.

Where Elevation comes in

Elevation REH Africa has already completed an EPC project involving the site assessment, building asset register and detailed inventory and load-profile data collection required to support the certification process. The resulting building achieved a B energy performance rating and was registered with SANEDI.

The experience highlighted an important part of the EPC journey:

For many building owners, the difficult part isn’t understanding that they need to comply. It’s knowing how to get the process moving.

Elevation can assist with the practical groundwork — from site assessment and information gathering through to preparing the required information and managing the process with an appropriately accredited EPC professional.

Compliance can be the beginning, not the end

An EPC shouldn’t simply become another document displayed at the entrance to a building.

It can become a useful reference point for understanding how that building performs — and where improvements may be possible.

Because once you know where you are, you can make more informed decisions about where you go next.

Better energy efficiency.

Smarter infrastructure.

Greater resilience.

And, where appropriate, renewable energy solutions designed around the building’s actual needs.

So, does your building need an EPC?

If you own or manage a qualifying office, educational facility, indoor sporting facility or entertainment/public assembly building — particularly one above the applicable floor-area threshold — it’s worth finding out.

The deadline may have passed. But your opportunity to understand your building hasn’t.

Elevation REH Africa can help you assess your requirements and navigate the EPC process.

Let’s start with the building.