Public bodies are required to maintain an up-to-date building register on the M&R system, including details of the floor area for each building. From March 2026, public bodies are also required to report building-level energy consumption data for buildings over 4,000 m2.
This help page describes M&R methodology for buildings . For step-by-step guidance on how to report data into the software system see the help page for the building register data input screen.
You should only include buildings (defined as roofed constructions having walls) in which energy is used to condition the indoor climate, i.e. for which energy is used for space heating, cooling and/or ventilation etc. Therefore, buildings in which no energy is used for heating, cooling or ventilation should not be included.
You should include all of the following buildings in the building register:
You should not include the following buildings in the building register:
If your organisation shares a building with one or more other organisation, you should include your organisation's part of the building as a standalone entry in the building register. This applies no matter whether your organisation is the landlord, a tenant or has another form of tenure in the building.
For example, if your organisation occupies three floors in a six-storey building that it shares with both another public body and a private sector organisation, then your organisation should report these three floors as a single entry in its building register. If the other public body occupies one floor in the same building, it should report that floor as a separate single entry in its building register.
If your public body has more than one building co-located on a site or campus, you should report each building as a separate entry in your building register.
A building comprises multiple blocks where separate sub-buildings (blocks) are connected together:
If a large building comprises multiple blocks, you should report the blocks as separate entries in your building register, i.e. one building register entry for each block. This is especially important for different blocks that are of different vintage.
The building register is a snapshot of your organisation's portfolio of buildings at a specific point in time. You should include all buildings that were within your organisation's portfolio, as defined above, as of the 31 December in the year immediately prior to the reporting deadline, e.g. if the forthcoming reporting deadline is in May 2026, your building register should contain all buildings as of 31 December 2025.
You must report up-to-date floor area for all buildings in your building register. The building area measurement specified in legislation is the Total Useful Floor Area (TUFA).
TUFA calculations should only include parts of buildings in which energy is used to condition the indoor climate, i.e. for which energy is used for space heating, cooling, ventilation etc. TUFA is based on the building area measurement specified for the preparation of Display Energy Certificates (DECs) – in compliance with European Union (Energy Performance of Buildings) Regulations 2012 (SI 243 of 2012). As set out in section 3.2.1 of SEAI's Technical manual: methodology to produce Display Energy Certificates:
This is same as the Gross Internal Area (GIA) commonly used in commercial property surveying, and for which measurement conventions are based on the SCS/IAVI Measuring Practice Guidance Notes. The method of measurement of TUFA is also set out in Technical Guidance Document L of the Building Regulations, which states that 'linear measurements for the calculation of wall, roof and floor areas and building volumes should be taken between the finished internal faces of the appropriate external building elements'
In this convention:
- The area of sloping surfaces such as staircases, galleries, raked auditoria, and tiered terraces should be taken as their area on plan; and
- Areas that are not enclosed such as outdoor areas, courtyards, covered ways and balconies are excluded.
It is the same as the Gross Internal Area (GIA) commonly used in commercial property surveying, and for which measurement conventions are based on the SCS/IAVI Measuring Practice Guidance Notes. The method of measurement of total useful floor area is also set out in Technical Guidance Document L of the Building Regulations, which states that 'linear measurements for the calculation of wall, roof and floor areas and building volumes should be taken between the finished internal faces of the appropriate external building elements'.
Some building sectors commonly use alternative measures of area, notably Net Lettable Area (NLA) for the commercial office sector, and Sales Floor Area (SFA) for retail premises. Where these are the only measurements available for these building types, then the calculation may use standard, conservative, conversion factors to obtain GIA from NLA or SFA.
These conversion factors, and the building categories for which they may be applied, are set out below.
|
Category |
Brief description |
Approved alternate floor area |
Default multiplier applied to alternate floor area to obtain TUFA |
|---|---|---|---|
| General office | General office and commercial working area | Net lettable area (NLA) as measured by Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) |
1.25 |
| General retail | General street & retail services | Sales floor area (SFA) |
1.80 |
| Large non-food shop | Retail warehouse or other large non-food store | Sales floor area (SFA) |
1.80 |
Source: Technical manual: methodology to produce Display Energy Certificates (SEAI)
The only alternative to using these defined conversion factors is to measure and provide the total useful floor area (TUFA) directly.
SEAI is in the process of classifying every building in the building register as being either:
From March 2026, public bodies are required to report building-level energy consumption data for 2025 for all buildings classified by SEAI as mandatory. The primary basis for the initial classification is floor area: it is mandatory to report building-level consumption data for buildings with reported floor areas that are greater than or equal to 4,000 m2.
Note:
The following are the building type and sub-type categorisations currently used in the building register. You should choose the building type and sub-type that best matches the function and activity of the building, rather than the overall sector in which your organisation operates, e.g. an office building on a university campus should be reported as one of the office types, rather than as one of the education types.
If the the type or sub-type corresponding to your building is not shown, choose the option that matches best.