Commercial EPC Cost: What the Certificate and the Upgrade Works Cost in 2026

What a commercial EPC costs and what sets the price

GOV.UK says you need an EPC when you rent out or sell a commercial building. You also need one when a new building is finished. And you need one when changes to the parts used for separate occupation involve new or extended fixed heating, air conditioning or mechanical ventilation.

An accredited assessor produces it, and every EPC is valid for 10 years.

GOV.UK gives no price. It says the cost depends on the building being assessed. Two published 2026 guides agree on the shape. One says a commercial EPC usually starts from £150. The other puts smaller buildings at about £100 to £300 and larger or complex ones at up to £1,500.

The fine for not making an EPC available to a prospective buyer or tenant is between £500 and £5,000, based on rateable value. The fine is the wrong reason to buy a certificate. The right reason is the recommendation report that comes with it. It is the list your works are priced from.

What rating you need in 2026, and by 2031

The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) Regulations 2015 stop a landlord letting a non-domestic building rated below E. That has applied to new lettings since 1 April 2018 and to every existing lease since 1 April 2023.

On 18 June 2026 the government proposed EPC B from 2031 for private rented buildings over 1,000 square metres, where cost effective. The earlier EPC C step for 2027 will not be taken forward.

The full government response is still to come, so treat 2031 as the planning date and the detail as open. Our guide to MEES regulations for commercial property covers the exemptions and penalties.

Is your certificate F or G? Do you want to be clear of B before 2031? Our MEES upgrade works for commercial landlords start from the EPC you already hold.

The works that lift a commercial EPC rating

Every building scores differently. Knight Frank's guide says there is no one solution that fits all, and advises an EPC assessment on the individual building before anyone chooses measures. So use this as the list to put to your assessor, and ask for each package to be modelled.

Plant and lighting are the services we install. For the heating, cooling and controls side, our M&E upgrade team designs and fits the packages. Fabric works such as roofs and glazing sit in the same programme.

Order matters for cost. Lighting and controls are the cheapest per sq ft. Plant is the biggest step and needs the longest lead time and the most design. Fabric usually waits for a refurbishment or a re-roof.

What EPC upgrade works cost per sq ft

Knight Frank's Landlord Refurbishment Cost Guide for Spring 2026 publishes indicative budget costs for EPC upgrades. Most are per sq ft of gross internal floor area. The fabric lines are per sq ft of facade, roof or glazing area instead.

Here is the arithmetic on a 10,000 sq ft floor plate, about 930 m². It multiplies the published ranges and is not a quote for your building.

The same guide's main benchmark, for a Central London office, prices plant per sq ft too. Air conditioning and ventilation plant is £20, air source heat pumps £10 and a building management system £7. It excludes VAT and professional fees.

The guide also says sustainability and EPC upgrades are included in its £300 per sq ft plus refurbishment schemes.

These are benchmarks. Our Cat A fit out cost per sq ft guide sets out the rest of that benchmark. A price for your building comes from a survey of it, and Craftex takes on construction projects from £100,000.

When to do the works so you pay once

Most commercial leases give a landlord limited rights to carry out works while the tenant is in occupation. The natural windows are breaks, expiries and voids. Each is a moment when the building is opened up anyway, for dilapidations or a Cat A refit.

That is the case for lining them up. Put lighting, controls and plant into the same programme as the strip-out. The building is disrupted once. The new lease then starts on a rating that clears E, or B if you work to the 2031 proposal.

Occupied buildings are not a reason to wait. At Portsoken House in Aldgate we delivered 1,550 sq m of offices on two floors, with a full mechanical and electrical package, in seven months. The other floors stayed let, so the noisy work ran at night and at weekends.

Who pays depends on the lease. The MEES duty sits with the landlord. Recovery through the service charge or a rent review is a lease question for your solicitor.

If the figures look uneconomic, the market may already be pricing it in. See our note on the brown discount on inefficient offices.

Getting from certificate to works in five steps

You can do the first two this month. The rest need the building opened up, so the lease event sets the date.

1. Find the certificate. Note the rating, the expiry date and the recommendation report.
2. Check the age. A certificate that is years old may not show the building as it is now.
3. Ask for packages to be modelled. Lighting, plant, controls and fabric, each with the rating it reaches.
4. Price the packages. Get a contractor's figure for your floor and set it beside the benchmark.
5. Fit the works to the lease event. Put the ones that pass into the void or refit programme.

Want the works priced before you brief an assessor? Get a free MEES check. We price from the certificate you already hold. The certificate itself comes from an accredited assessor.