Published  by DCLG on 1 March 2016

These amendments come into force on 1 March 2016 in respect of building notices given, full plans deposited or initial notices given on or after that date.

Part G

The only principal difference in the 2016 Part G edition guidance is listed within G2 (Water Efficiency). It requires that a water efficiency calculator is to be used on new dwellings where a shower will not be provided.  It proposes that a water softener or a re-usable system is to be provided.

Part L

The ‘watered down’ amendments were published on the 15 March 2016 by DCLG a major change in direction from the previous 10 years and ‘scrapping’ the road to zero carbon which would have seen zero carbon homes this year and zero carbon commercial developments  in 2019. It’s not yet quite a done deal with a recent House of Lords vote against the decision.

We will keep clients up to date through social media @Salusai_HQ and client newsletters as this matter gets clarity.

The circular announced amendments to the Building Regulations 2010, the Building (Approved Inspectors etc.) Regulations 2010, the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012, Approved Documents L1A, L1B, L2A and L2B and the Party Wall etc. Act made by the above instruments, all of which have come into force on 6 April 2016.

Scope

The amendments to the Building Regulations 2010 and the Approved Documents apply in relation to building work carried out in England and also to building work on excepted energy buildings in Wales.

The amendments to the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 and the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 apply in England and Wales

Most of the changes made to the Building Regulations 2010 by the Building Regulations & (Amendment) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/285) are minor changes to the wording to make it clearer that the target CO2 emission rates, the calculated CO2 emission rates, the target fabric energy efficiency rates and the calculated fabric energy efficiency rates must be calculated and expressed using the approved methodology at regulation 24.

Summary

The main changes to the regulations are the withdrawal of regulations 29 to 33 of the Building Regulations 2010.

These have been replaced by Regulation 7A of the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012.

New Regulation 7A states that the Energy Performance of a Building (England and Wales) Regulation 2012 requires that when a dwelling is erected the person carrying out the work must give an EPC to the owner of the building and a notice to the building control body (BCB) that a certificate has been given including the reference number under which the certificate has been registered.

It is still critical for Building Control Bodies to seek design DER/TER and DFEE/TFEE calculations at Plan Check stage before work commences.
And then for as built DER/TER and DFEE/TFEE calculations at completion as well as the Air test certificate if required. These all need to be provided along with the EPC.

However, the aim of the change is to simplify the Regulation and to have it all in one place, DCLG  have also made changes to the wording of Regulations 24, 25, 26, 26A, 27 and 27A of the Building Regulations 2010 which is also a step in making the Regulations clearer to read.

Part M

The main changes in this year’s edition are a series of clarifications listed out in the Approved Document M – Volume 1 Corrigenda for dwellings.  For example it states “newly erected dwellings” rather than “new dwellings”.

Published by DCLG on 13 April 2016
The Amendment Regulations come into force on 9 May 2016. However, there is a transitional period in place meaning that compliance with the new requirements in the Regulations will only apply where a building regulations application is submitted after 31 December 2016.

New – Part R – coming into force 1st January 2017

Part R is about the Physical Infrastructure for High-Speed Electronic Communications Network which is likely to take place at the start of the New Year.  In a nut-shell, all newly erected buildings and buildings forgoing major renovation work must be designed so that there is access to the internet. The guidance suggests there must be provisions for fibre optic cables or wireless devices capable of delivering a minimum of 30MBps of Broadband.

There has also been changes to Party Wall Act, which whilst this is not a Building Control piece of legislation, to support better use of the Act it now allows electronic transfer of information between two parties, again this is another step in trying to simplify things.