News – Project Certification Fees

Following the announcement last week of the move of SKArating to new ownership and management, the Board of Directors has taken the opportunity to make a correction to the project certification fees, which have not been increased since 2013.

SKArating has ambitious plans to update the SKArating schemes to respond to an increasingly climate-aware fit-out industry, and to expand the sectors that SKArating can be used in. As such, SKArating is committed to:

• Reducing the negative environmental impact and increase the positive economic and social impact of the fit-out sector.
• Operating a sustainability rating tool owned by the fit-out industry for the fit-out industry.
• Promoting good practice across the sector and evolve SKA Rating to meet changing sustainability requirements´
• Reinvesting generated revenue in developing the tool and its impact.

Key organisational projects include:

• Online tool – redeveloping the online tool to increase its functionality, improve the audit process and produce better project data.
• Scheme evolution – making it fit to current priorities such as the Net Zero agenda.
• Triple bottom line – introducing meaningful, measurable objectives relevant to the fit-out sector for social value and economic benefits, not just the environment.
• Increased number of schemes – to reflect market demand, in particular residential/ accommodation refurbishments, education, and health.
• Assessor accreditation – more robust assessor accreditation to enhance consistency and deliver higher quality outcomes, with increased CPD requirements to ensure all assessors are giving the best and most relevant advice to clients.
• Training – more training available for assessors, updated to match changing scheme criteria.

This all needs significant investment, which is paid for through certification and accreditation fees. Therefore, certification fees for all SKArating schemes will be set at £850 +VAT from the end of January 2024.