Since many years, several monitoring studies have shown that the quality and compliance of installed ventilation systems can be low. The recently developed Evaluation scheme in Belgium tries to tackle this problem, thanks to the mandatory Ventilation Performance Report of all new ventilation installations, to be delivered by a Ventilation Reporter recognised by a Third-Party control organisation. This factsheet describes the approach of this scheme, including the penalty scheme and the role of the actors involved.

Ductwork airtightness is an input parameter in the French energy performance calculation method for new buildings (RT 2012) which influences the energy performance rating. If the ductwork airtightness class used in the calculation is better than the default value (2.5*class A), the ductwork airtightness has to be justified in accordance with a third-party testing scheme operational since 2014. Furthermore, there is a minimum ductwork airtightness requirement set to leakage class A if the building applies for the Effinergie+ or BEPOS labels.

Systems providing space heating, ventilation, space cooling and/or domestic hot water (HVAC) to residential or commercial buildings are playing a major role in the building energy performance. Eurovent Certita Certification manages a voluntary certification of the performance of heating, ventilation and air conditioning products, under the European mark “Eurovent Certified Performance”. Such a certification increases confidence in the published performance data of products and provides an easier access to input data for calculation of a building’s energy performance.