10 years of Display Energy Certificates

10 years ago, as part of the Energy Performance in Buildings Regulation, Display Energy Certificates (DECs) were launched in England and Wales.

In October 2008, DECs became a legal requirement for all buildings in the public sector and publicly funded organisations where members of the public access buildings.

The purpose of a DEC is to exhibit the energy performance and the efficiency of a building to members of the public and building users. This is illustrated in a simple graph format on a scale of A-G.

They also motivate the building occupier to make energy efficiency improvements to realise better future DEC ratings.

Many of our customers with large estates of buildings use their DECs as a league table to see how their buildings are performing and challenge their staff to improve the rating year-on-year.

TEAM has been issuing Display Energy Certificates for our customers since the launch 10 years ago and to mark this occasion, here are 10 interesting facts about our DEC Service:

  1. We have issued over 14,000 certificates in this time.
  2. TEAM’s very own Justine Grant, Senior Energy Consultant was one of the first Assessors to ever issue a DEC.
  3. The largest building we issue a DEC for is in-excess of 110,000 metres square.
  4. We issue DECs for several buildings that are UNESCO World Heritage sites.
  5. We issue DECs all over England and Wales, with clients as far south as Penzance in Cornwall to Sunderland in the North and Croesyceiliog in Wales.
  6. We also issue DECs for our clients in Northern Ireland.
  7. The type of buildings of our client base is vast, we issue DECs for hospital wards and operating theatres, university halls of residence and laboratories, Central and Local Government offices, leisure centres, police and fire stations, museums and schools to name a few!
  8. The spectrum of businesses we look after is broad. This includes small individual schools through to managing renewals for organisations with over 150 buildings requiring DECs every year.
  9. Out of the DECs issued by TEAM in 2009 only 3% achieved a B operational rating. Last year more than 13% achieved the same rating. More than 50% of these DECs in 2009 were rated E-G, and last year less than a third were granted the same E-G rating.
  10. TEAM display (and update each year) a voluntarily DEC for our own office, we have chosen to do this as part of our ISO14001 certified Environmental Management System.

If you’re a public sector or publicly funded organisation and you are due to renew your DEC.

Learn about our Display Energy Certificate (DEC) service 

Power to make change

We believe that people power can change the world. We are here to help you have a positive impact on the planet. Together we can make a difference.

Take the next step

Net Zero 2030

Leading by example, we became carbon neutral in 2023 and are committed to achieving net zero business emissions by 2030.

Read our net zero strategy

Our people

As an Employee Ownership Trust we embrace the three pillars of good communication, governance and leadership, putting our people first.

Learn more about us

By your side

Staying at the forefront of industry, we embrace and drive change, delivering solutions at pace and scale to meet the modern challenges of energy and sustainability.

Meet our people