"Construction Index: The building regs are about to change but they forgot to tell the builders"
https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/the-building-regs-are-about-to-change-but-they-forgot-to-tell-the-builders

 

Quote

 

According to a survey by the Federation of Master Builders, which represents more than 7,000 small building firms across the UK, 52% of builders are neither prepared for nor aware of the impending changes. Only 44% are ready – 5% couldn't even say one way or the other.

 

 

Quote

The revised documents are: Approved Document F (Ventilation), volume2; Approved Document L (Conservation of Fuel and Power) volumes 1 and 2; Approved Document O (Overheating); and Approved Document S (Infrastructure for Charging Electric Vehicles).

 

2 minutes ago, Temp said:

Only 44% are ready

44% being ready could be considered a success in the building trade.

We all know that 90% of builders are (expletive deleted)wits and chancers.

I suppose yes, builders would need to know wouldn’t they?

 

The main one is sunrooms need a door into the main house, that might catch people out.

So do the new regs apply to all builds at the time the new regs come in or does it depend when you are granted regs approval ?

21 minutes ago, Chanmenie said:

So do the new regs apply to all builds at the time the new regs come in or does it depend when you are granted regs approval ?

the regs at the point you apply in England and Wales

2 minutes ago, PeterW said:

the regs at the point you apply in England and Wales

When Part P came into force, couple of places I was working on, Building Control allowed the sparks to work to the older regs, as long as they had already started.

4 minutes ago, PeterW said:

the regs at the point you apply in England and Wales

Thanks, that’s good then

Part L is going to catch a lot of installers out. It's both confusing and somewhat contradictory. And the fact that new/replacement wet heating systems must be designed for a max flow temp of 55 degrees is going to challenge a good number of heating engineers/plumbers who don't usually even touch a heat loss calculation... or ever consider the primary energy demand, let alone that some heating choices might only be installed if you seriously upgrade energy efficiency.

 

The changes are largely a good thing but the the way it's being approached is another. Lots of headaches to come.

Edited May 1, 20224 yr by SimonD

3 hours ago, Temp said:

"Construction Index: The building regs are about to change but they forgot to tell the builders"

 

"The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) says that the government needs to pull its finger out and tell small builders what it expects from them."

 

As if the government has the contact details for all the small builders.

 

I think it's really for the FMB's to keep their members informed.

 

On this one, the Government has done a reasonable job on publicising the coming changes.

 

It's a shame the industry is, in general, reluctant to any such changes.

On 01/05/2022 at 08:47, PeterW said:

the regs at the point you apply in England and Wales

 

I don't think the new regs will apply in Wales, it should be England only. As far as I know Wales is currently doing consultation for its own review of Part L.