PAS 2038 Compliance: What Every Retrofit Professional Needs to Know

With around 70% of the UK’s non-residential buildings built in past centuries, retrofit is set to play an important role in achieving the UK’s 2050 net zero targets. If you’re a retrofit professional committed to creating energy-efficient, sustainable buildings, it’s essential for you to understand PAS 2038 compliance.

Developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI), PAS 2038 sets the standard for retrofitting non-domestic buildings. While assessing retrofitted buildings has been challenging up to now, PAS 2038 ensures any energy efficiency upgrades meet consistently high standards.

Read on to learn more about PAS 2038 compliance and what you need to know as a retrofit professional.

What is PAS 2038?

PAS 2038 is a UK standard outlining the best practices for energy efficiency and decarbonisation retrofit projects in non-domestic buildings. It covers:

• Assessment
• Design
• Installation
• Commissioning
• Handover

Co-authored by our Director of Studies, Professor John Edwards, PAS 2038 will help retrofit projects meet the UK’s environmental goals and deliver genuine energy savings. According to the UKGBC, deep retrofit has the potential to reduce operational energy use by 60-65%.

PA2038 complements the PAS 2035 standard for domestic retrofit projects, helping to bridge gaps in existing regulations.

PAS 2038 Objectives

PAS 2038 aims to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 11 to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, as well as Goal 13 to take urgent action to combat climate change.

As a retrofit professional, achieving PAS 2038 compliance will help you to:

• Make buildings longer-lasting and better fit for purpose
• Improve the wellbeing, health and safety of the building’s users
• Reduce the fuel usage and emissions of buildings by improving energy efficiency
• Make buildings more environmentally friendly
• Conserve and enhance the architectural and cultural heritage of our buildings
• Minimise the chance of unintended consequences in reaching the goals above
• Be more likely to hit your energy efficiency goals, minimising the ‘performance gap’

What buildings does PAS 2038 cover?

PAS 2038 covers all non-domestic buildings. These include:

• Offices
• Commercial premises
• Schools and universities
• Healthcare facilities
• Industrial buildings
• Multi-residential buildings where residents share some communal facilities, for example hotels and student accommodation

Historic buildings and PAS 2038

It’s worth noting that PAS 2038 has a special provision for historic buildings or buildings with special protection or traditional construction. As part of the BSI’s goal to protect our architectural and cultural heritage, retrofitters will need to assess heritage values going forward, alongside completing heritage impact assessments.

If you’re involved in retrofitting historic buildings, you’ll now need a Level 3 Award in Energy Efficiency for Older and Traditional Buildings. At the Environment Study Centre, this is a two-day course led by Professor John Edwards with a specific focus on PAS 2038. You can find out more about our retrofit courses here.

PAS 2038 Retrofit Methodology

PAS 2038 covers the entire retrofitting process from inception to competitions. This covers the following six stages:

1. Assessing the building to be retrofitted and auditing existing energy efficiency
2. Developing retrofit proposals
3. Implementing retrofit measures
4. Testing to verify that retrofit measures are delivering on goals
5. Handover of the building to users, providing detailed documentation and guidance
6. Monitoring the retrofit to evaluate its long-term performance

Limitations of PAS 2038

While PAS 2038 is essential in helping the UK reach its sustainability goals, it’s worth considering that the standard has some limitations. These include:

• Making retrofit project management more complicated, requiring you to have a deep understanding of PAS 2038 in order to achieve compliance.
• Adding another layer of cost with the need for additional assessments, professional expertise and quality assurance.
• Potentially making it more challenging for you to adapt to emerging technologies or bespoke solutions, while still maintaining compliance with the standard.
• Finding contractors who fully understand and can adhere to PAS 2038, although this also presents opportunities for those ready to up-skill, which we’ll cover next.

PAS 2038 Accreditation

As a retrofit professional working on commercial buildings, PAS 2038 accreditation can help you show you’ve achieved an independently-recognised level of knowledge. The Level 3 Award for Energy Efficiency for Older & Traditional Buildings (QCF) is a government-approved qualification designed for retrofit contractors, consultants and clients.

Whether you’re a retrofit coordinator, assessor, designer or evaluator, gaining this qualification is essential to allow you to work on traditional buildings or on retrofits funded by government or energy providers.

How We Can Help

We hope this guide has helped you understand PAS 2038 compliance and why it’s essential for you to understand this standard as a retrofit professional working on commercial projects.

Read our blog to learn more about the sustainable management of buildings, including why building design needs the circular economy.

When you’re ready to take an accreditation, we can support you with courses on building retrofit and damp in buildings, designed and led by genuine experts. Find out more about the Environment Study Centre here or contact us when you’re ready to begin your studies.

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