BER Assessment Training Courses
BER Assessors
Building Energy Ratings (BERs) published on the BER Register can only be carried out by registered Assessors. To become a registered Domestic BER Assessor, a person must have the relevant pre-qualification of a Level 6 Award (Advanced Certificate/Higher Certificate) in construction studies or other cognate discipline or equivalent, subsequently been certified as having successfully completed a training course for Domestic BER Assessors, passed the SEAI Domestic BER Examination, has completed the application form, accepted the Code of Practice and paid the relevant registration fee by direct debit.
********** All applicants seeking registration after the 30th of June 2009 must have passed the SEAI Domestic BER Examination. To book an exam please go to www.seai.ie/ber/DBER**********
Number of Active BER Assessors
In assessing the business opportunity for you as a BER Assessor, SEAI would strongly advise all applicants to review the number of BER Assessors on the National Register of Assessors who are already servicing your intended target area. There is no cap on the number of BER Assessors who can operate in Ireland and all applicants should ensure that they are happy with the potential business opportunity before investing money in registering with SEAI.
Every month SEAI publishes a status report that outlines the number of BER Assessors registered with SEAI, the number of people who have successfully completed BER Assessor training courses and the number of BER Certificates published on the national register. Please click here to see the most recent status report.
SEAI estimates that the equivalent of 1,000 full time active BER Assessors would be required to meet the demands of the residential BER market.
The National Register of BER Assessors can be found here.
BER Assessor training courses
Choosing a Training Provider
A list of training providers offering BER Assessor courses is provided below. These providers are recognised under the National Framework of Qualifications (www.nfq.ie) which governs all Universities, Institutes of Technology, FETAC and HETAC accredited training providers.
Candidates should enquire about the length of time taken by the awarding body to issue certificates as this can vary greatly and may delay a candidate from registering with SEAI.
The courses offered by the various training providers differ significantly and SEAI recommend candidates compare all courses to choose one best suited to their needs.
Training Specification
All training courses must meet the "Specification for Assessor Training Programme for Building Energy Rating (BER) of Dwellings" dated September 2008, as published by SEAI. (This supersedes the old specification dated October 2006 which related to New Dwellings only.) The training specification sets out the minimum course content to be covered in BER Assessor training courses. The training must be based on the official and current version of the Dwelling Energy Assessment Procedure (DEAP) software - DEAP Version 3.
Pre qualification requirements
As a pre-qualification for entry to all dedicated BER courses, successful applicants must have an appropriate construction related qualification, at least a Level 6 Award (Advanced Certificate/Higher Certificate) in construction studies or other cognate discipline or equivalent. Equivalence may be determined as a combination of an appropriate construction-related qualification and significant relevant experience. All candidates must have adequate Information Technology skills to at least European Computer Driver Licence START standard or equivalent.
UK Domestic Energy Assessor / UK Home Inspectors Course
SEAI will recognise the UK Domestic Energy Assessor (DEA) course and the UK Home Inspectors Course as prequalification requirements. The DEA course is taken with ABBE, City & Guilds or NFOPP. The Home Inspectors Course is awarded by ABBE and City & Guilds.
After completing a BER course and passing the SEAI DBER exam- Registration
On successful completion of a BER training course, candidates will be awarded a Level 6 Certificate. SEAI will only register applicants who have the relevant pre-qualification and that have received their certificates from the awarding body namely the Universities, Institutes of Technology, FETAC or HETAC. All candidates must achieve a minimum score of 70% in their course in order to be eligible to sit the SEAI Domestic BER Examination and register with SEAI. All applicants seeking registration after the 30th of June 2009 must have passed the SEAI Domestic BER Examination. To book an exam please go to www.seai.ie/ber/DBER
A registration fee of €1,000 is required for first time registration with SEAI as a BER Assessor. A fee of €100 will be charged for annual renewal of BER Assessor registrations.
If you have any queries about the training courses listed here, please contact the training provider directly.
The following is a listing of the BER Assessor training courses notified to SEAI. In each case, a link has been provided to information supplied by the trainers.
Cavan Institute
Chevron Training and Development Ltd
Chris Mee Safety Engineering(CMSE)
Dunlaoghaire College of Further Education
Dublin Institute Technology
Energy Action Limited
Galway Mayo Institute of Technology
Hanley Consulting & Training
Limerick Institute of Technology
National Energy Assessors
National Irish Centre for Energy Rating Ltd. (NICER)
Neil Dawn
Orbital Training Ltd
Renewable Energy Skills
SQT Training Ltd
