Designer

Redesigning the UK Energy Performance Certificate

Scottish proposed EPC improvements table on the left, beside the redesigned web version with house section drawings on the right.

The challenge

My own energy performance certificate (EPC) did not help me improve my home. It is a legal document for selling and letting a property. It was not designed to help an owner decide what to do. It also had no imagery, so its ideas were hard to relate to my own home.

I set out to redesign it as a web page first, with print second. The page needed to show where a home stands and what the owner could do next, using pictures as well as words.

Process

I started by assessing my own EPC. I looked for what I could not relate to. It had no imagery, and nothing translated its ideas into a picture of the home. Pictures speak louder than words, so I focused there.

I sketched ideas for what it could be. I split the home into three layers: the fabric, the workings, and eco measures such as solar. Each layer shows what the home has and what it could have, kept apart.

I knew the EPC was due for reform. I had not seen the research behind it until I found the proposed Scottish EPC from Net Zero Scotland. It ran along similar lines to my own ideas.

So I finished my draft beside it, using its example home. That way the two could be compared directly, and I could ask for input from the people behind it.

I put the answer first. The headline reads, "Insulating your walls or floor would lift you from E to D". A rating strip shows now, likely and possible ratings, with a cost and saving for each.

I drew two house sections in building regulations style. Red arrows show heat leaving the home. Blue marks show what could improve. Each improvement stands alone, so there is no implied order. Where I assumed a fact, the page says "Assumed" in plain words.

I built the page as one HTML file with inline SVG, light and dark themes, and expandable rows. I checked it at 320px, 390px and 900px, in dark mode, with every row open.

Gallery

The redesigned EPC fabric page on desktop: an E to D to C rating strip, before and after house sections, and expandable rows for roof, walls, windows and floor.

The redesigned EPC fabric page on a phone: the same rating strip, house sections and expandable rows in a single column.

Results

I built one of the five planned pages and a side-by-side comparison with the Scottish proposal. The Scottish version lists measures in a table with cumulative ratings. Mine shows state first and action on request. The page works at three widths and in dark mode.

This is still an untested concept. I have shared it with the people behind the Scottish proposal and I am waiting for a reply. The costs and savings are placeholders, and I have not tested the page with real users. Until I hear back, I treat it as an idea to explore, not a finished answer.

Key learnings

The EPC was not written for the people who live in the home. But it is tied to every home, so it should make sense to everyone. It is already getting attention through reform, which makes it worth getting right.

Role

Designer