More accurate but 鈥渟till a bit clunky鈥� is the verdict on the latest version of the software for calculating display energy certificates, which are required for public-sector buildings by October.

Richard Hipkiss of i-Prophets, a DEC assessor, said: 鈥淭here鈥檚 been some tweaking of benchmarks and improvement of the central information portal. Running data through the latest version gives me slightly higher ratings than using the last version, meaning it鈥檚 probably more accurate.鈥�

The software is used to calculate the energy consumption of buildings in order to rate their efficiency. It has been under development since late last year. The latest version will be used by trainers and by assessors to produce DECs in advance of the October deadline.

Hipkiss said it was 鈥渃lunky鈥� because assessors must still input data in sequence and could not save information if they needed to gather more data.

The Department of Communities and Local Government said the software was likely to be refined over the coming months. CIBSE鈥檚 DEC training courses begin this month in London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.

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