The Code for Sustainable Homes was launched in April 2007 and is the national standard for the design and construction of Sustainable new homes. To date there are 500 fully qualified and licensed Code for Sustainable Homes assessors. This is already sufficient to meet the existing and anticipated demand for Code assessments over the coming months.
By May 2008 the Government anticipates that the two organisations currently offering Code accreditation services—the Building Research Establishment and Stroma—will have trained and licensed over 900 assessors. Other firms are currently considering providing Code accreditation services, and should they go ahead, this will further increase the capacity and competition within the market.
The number of Code for Sustainable Homes assessors by region, and the number of candidates currently booked onto training courses are as follows:
Region Fully qualified and licensed assessors able to operate. Qualified assessors still to be licensed and not able to operate Candidates in training up to May 2008 Eastern 43 10 20 Midlands 63 18 49 North 75 16 30 South east 257 96 162 South west 47 10 30 Wales 15 2 5 TOTALS 500 152 296
Not all assessors in training will necessarily pass the exams so the total number of assessors by May 2008 will be slightly lower than the totals above. The regional split above is the one used by BRE rather than by that generally used by Government.