New Building Regulations: Transitional Arrangements Reminder
June 2022 some of the biggest changes to the building regulations we have seen in recent years. Alongside updates to Part L & Part F, a brand new Part O and Part S were introduced. Other sections of the regulations have also been updated or introduced in recent months.
When new building regulations are introduced, the government typically provides transitional arrangements to help organisations move towards adhering to the new rules. With many deadlines now approaching, we wanted to take the time to remind you what is changing and when.
Part B Transitional Arrangements (Fire Safety)
In December 2022 Approved Document B was updated to extend a ban on combustible materials and strengthen fire safety standards.
For the previous regulations to apply to your project, you must have applied for building control before 1st December 2022 and work must commence before 1st June 2023.
If your application was made after 1st December 2022 or work will not commence until after 1st June 2023, the new rules will apply to your project.
Part F Transitional Arrangements (Ventilation)
An update to Approved Document F was introduced in June 2022. This aims to simplify ventilation strategies and improve the minimum whole dwelling ventilation rate.
For the previous regulations to apply to your project, you must have applied for building control before 15th June 2022 and work must commence on site before 15th June 2023.
If your application was made after 15th June 2022 or work will not commence until after 15th June 2023, the new rules will apply to your project.
Part L Transitional Arrangements (Conservation of fuel and power)
Approved Document L was also updated in June 2022. This aims to improve the energy efficiency of new homes.
For the previous regulations to apply to your project, you must have applied for building control before 1st December 2022 and work must commence before 1st June 2023.
If your application was made after 15th June 2022 or work will not commence until after 15th June 2023, the new rules will apply to your project.
Part O Transitional Arrangements (Overheating)
A brand new Approved Document O was introduced in June 2022. This aims to mitigate the problem of homes overheating.
For the previous regulations to apply to your project, you must have applied for building control before 1st December 2022 and work must commence before 1st June 2023.
If your application was made after 15th June 2022 or work will not commence until after 15th June 2023, the new rules will apply to your project.
Part R Transitional Arrangements (Physical infrastructure for high-speed electronic communications networks)
Updates to Approved Document R were introduced in December 2022 to help ensure new or substantially altered buildings have the appropriate infrastructure in place for highspeed internet connections.
For the previous regulations to apply to your project, you must have made your application for building control before 26th December 2022 and work must commence before 26th December 2023.
If your application was made after 26th December 2022 or work will not commence until after 26th December 2023, then the new rules will apply to your project.
Part S Transitional Arrangements (Infrastructure for charging electric vehicles)
Approved Document S was also introduced in June 2022 to help ensure that appropriate infrastructure for charging electrics vehicles is in place to prepare for future bans on new diesel and petrol vehicles.
For the previous regulations to apply to your project, you must have applied for building control before 1st December 2022 and work must commence before 1st June 2023.
If your application was made after 15th June 2022 or work will not commence until after 15th June 2023, the new rules will apply to your project.
What does “commencement on site” mean?
The commencement of work is a phrase that could be open to interpretation. To make it absolutely clear what counts as starting work on site, the government has confirmed that the following indicate work has officially commenced:
- Excavation for strip or trench foundations or for pad footings
- Digging out and preparation of ground for raft foundations
- Vibrofloatation (stone columns) piling, boring for piles or pile driving
- Drainage work specific to the building(s) concerned
Things such as removal of topsoil or vegetation, demolition of previous buildings on site and general site servicing works do not count as the commencement of work.
Should all plots be commenced?
In cases where multiple dwellings or buildings are on the same applications, work on each unit must have started for transitional arrangements to apply. If work has only started on a portion of the dwellings, e.g. 6 plots of a 10 home development, then only these six can be built to the previous standards.
For a block of flats, the foundations for these is considered a start on all units within that block.
The rules are slightly different for Part S. When multiple dwellings or buildings are on a single application, you only need to have commenced work on one unit for the transitional provisions to apply to all units.
Want to know more about recent building regulations updates?
We cover more on what the latest building regulations entail in our article: Recent Buildings Regulations Changes You Might Have Missed.
If you’d like to know more specifically about how the building regulations apply to your project, drop an email to admin@ydbc.co.uk or give us a call on 0113 372 0094.
