The Scottish Government has been ahead of the rest of the UK in its attempts to introduce methods which are designed to change behaviour and encourage people to operate in buildings in a more energy efficient manner.

The Assessment of Energy Performance of Non-domestic Buildings (Scotland) Regulations 2016 came into effect on 1 September and are aimed at effecting those behavioural changes.

Parent company guarantees and performance bonds are typically used in the construction and engineering industries to provide a developer with some security in the event that the contractor breaches the building or engineering contract or, in some circumstances, upon the contractor's insolvency.

In the current economic climate, contractor default is, unfortunately, even more prevalent in the construction and engineering industries, and so the issues surrounding parent company guarantees and performance bonds are very much in focus for developers.