BCIA
Policy is moving in the same direction
Several recent developments reinforce this shift and place BEMS as an essential tool to support building performance.
The Government has confirmed its intention to strengthen Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for the largest privately rented non-domestic buildings in England and Wales. Under the current proposal, buildings over 1,000m ² would need to achieve EPC B from 2031 where improvements are cost-effective, subject to the necessary legislation.
At the same time, the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard is increasing the focus on what buildings actually deliver. Version 1 was published in March 2026 and verification opened in July, providing a voluntary, industry-developed route for demonstrating that new, existing and retrofitted buildings are aligned with netzero-carbon objectives.
Wales is also giving building automation greater prominence. The 2026 edition of Approved Document L Volume 2, which takes effect in March 2027, introduces requirements for Building Automation and Control Systems in certain new nondomestic buildings with heating or airconditioning systems exceeding 180kW, with provisions covering monitoring, analysis, interoperability and the identification of energy-efficiency opportunities.
Meanwhile, the Climate Change Committee’ s May 2026 A Well-Adapted UK assessment underlines the growing importance of climate resilience. It warns that the risk of extreme heat in homes and offices could be four times higher in the 2050s than today, reinforcing the need for buildings that can respond effectively to changing conditions.
Taken together, these developments point in the same direction: compliance remains essential, but attention is increasingly turning to how buildings perform in use.
Efficiency is only part of the value The wider value of getting building controls right is central to BCIA’ s Comfort, Efficiency & Health: The Untapped Potential of Building Energy Management Systems white paper.
Across offices, healthcare and education, the research considers economic, environmental and social outcomes rather than energy consumption in isolation. It estimates that advanced BEMS could deliver an average annual emissions reduction of 7.4 % across UK commercial and public sector building emissions between 2026 and 2035. Improved comfort in offices could contribute £ 12.75 billion in annual GVA by 2050, while improved indoor air quality could help prevent two million workforce sick days each year and enable 552,000 more pupils to pass national exams.
That distinction is important. A building cannot reasonably be described as highperforming if energy consumption is low but occupants are consistently too hot, too cold or poorly ventilated. Equally, maintaining comfort by allowing heating, cooling and ventilation plant to run indiscriminately is neither efficient nor sustainable.
Good controls help reconcile those competing demands. By monitoring conditions and adjusting building services in response to occupancy, internal conditions and external weather, BEMS can support energy efficiency, comfort and resilience together. For owners, that means a building better equipped to deliver against operational objectives; for builders, it means ensuring the controls installed and commissioned at project stage are capable of supporting those outcomes.
Build performance in from the start For existing building owners, improvement will not always require wholesale replacement. For new-build and major refurbishment projects, however, there is a clear opportunity to make performance part of the brief from the outset.
In many estates, meaningful improvement may begin with understanding what is already installed: reviewing control strategies, analysing operating data, correcting schedules and setpoints, addressing failed sensors, removing unnecessary overrides and recommissioning plant.
The same principle should inform new projects. Controls need to be specified around measurable operational outcomes, commissioned properly and handed over in a form that facilities teams can actually use.
BCIA’ s BEMS Delivery Framework supports this approach by providing a manufacturer-agnostic way of defining the level of BEMS functionality required, helping clients, consultants and contractors establish clearer expectations from specification through to commissioning and handover.
The industry’ s own market data also underlines the growing value associated with this lifecycle approach.
The opportunity ahead is therefore larger than installing additional technology. It is to make better use of intelligent controls throughout a building’ s operational life.
Buildings are being asked to become more efficient, lower-carbon, healthier, adaptable and resilient at the same time. None of those objectives is achieved by design intent alone.
For builders and building owners, the message is clear: if performance matters after handover, the controls that enable it need to be designed in, protected and proven before the building is occupied.
To explore BCIA’ s research, technical guidance and resources on building controls and BEMS, visit bcia. co. uk.
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