Building Regulations 2022

The Building Regulations cover a wide range of topics, including structural safety, fire safety, accessibility, energy efficiency, ventilation, and drainage. They apply to three types of building: new residential buildings, pre-existing residential buildings, and new business buildings. The general changes to each are as follows:

Business Buildings

1. A 27% reduction in emissions from new offices and retailer structures, in line with 2050 net-zero objectives
2. Updates to the ventilation system guidelines.

New Residential Buildings

1. A 30% reduction in emissions from newly built residential properties, in line with 2050 net-zero objectives
2. Compliant methods for measuring potential overheating of a property have been limited to Dynamic Thermal Analysis and A simplified method
3. Adoption of the Fabric Energy Efficiency Standard, a proposed upper limit on the energy required for space heating and cooling. This measures the energy efficiency of new dwellings by considering factors including fabric U-values, thermal bridging, external heat gain, and more.
4. All brand-new heating systems must be built with a maximum flow temperature of 55°C or less.

Existing Residential Structures

1. Revised standards in fixed building services and basic fabric
2. Enforced compatibility of new or existing heating systems with low-carbon heating
3. Updates to the ventilation system guidelines.

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What this means for construction professionals – get prepared by 15 ^th June 2023!

While the new regulations were passed in June 2022, a 1 year grace period was included, meaning that builders have until 15th June 2023 to adapt to the new legislation.

• Part B: Fire Safety revises and adds to regulations concerning escape routes, access for firefighters and internal fire detection systems, as well as specifying what building materials may not be used. The banning of combustible materials used in and on the exterior walls of buildings has been extended to hotels, hostels, and boarding homes. In addition, the use of MCM PE, or Metal Composite Material panels with an unaltered polyethylene core has been banned on any new buildings.
• Part F: Ventilation specifies that air flow systems must circulate throughout the entire building in the case of domestic structures, utilizing extract ventilation in areas of increased humidity and/or pollution. In addition, Part F heralds mandatory checklists to simplify the installation process of ventilation equipment in both new and existing homes.
• Part L: Conservation Of Fuel & Power provides guidance for energy efficiency measures of residential buildings – from pressure testing, insulation, hot water storage and boiler operability.
• Part O: Overheating provides recommendations on how to provide means of removing extra heat from residential structures. It addresses the overheating improvement requirements in various building regulations and focuses on overheating mitigation measures.

Part B: Fire Safety & BS 8644 1

BS 8644-1 is the new standard for the collection, presentation and management of fire safety information. This standard is meant to apply not only to each and every stage of the project, but to all of those engaged in the design, construction, operation, maintenance and emergency response of the building.

Next Field helps to automate this process, allowing workers to record, catalog and verify each instance of fire safety. See how DBC records & tracks fire door installation with ease:

Mark, Carpenter, DBC Southern Ltd

 

Part L: Photographic Evidence

The most salient aspect of Part L is Appendix B, which requires that developers and builders take pictures of each and every aspect of conservation as part of their audit, in order to guarantee that the completed building is fully compliant, truly reflecting that of the design stage SAP calculation.

Qualitative evidence is required for:

1. Foundations/substructure and ground floor, to show thermal continuity and quality of insulation
2. Ground floor perimeter edge insulation
3. External door threshold
4. Below damp-proof course on external walls
5. External walls: for each main wall type, to show thermal continuity and quality of insulation for the following
6. Ground floor to wall junction
7. Structural penetrating elements
8. Roof: for each main roof type, to show thermal continuity and quality of insulation at the following
9. Joist/rafter level
10. Eaves and gable edges
11. Openings: for each opening type (one image per wall or roof type is sufficient), to show thermal continuity and quality of insulation with photographs of the following
12. Window positioning in relation to cavity closer or insulation line
13. External door set positioning in relation to cavity closer or insulation line
14. Air tightness: additional photographs for all details 1–4 to show air tightness details (only if not included or visible in continuity of insulation image)
15. Building services: for all plant associated with space heating, hot water, ventilation and low or zero carbon technology equipment within or on the building, show the following
16. Plant/equipment identification label(s), including make/model and serial number
17. Primary pipework continuity of insulation
18. Mechanical ventilation duct-work continuity of insulation (for duct sections outside the thermal envelope).