Building regulation changes: What you should know

Significant changes to building regulations will take effect on 15th June 2022.
New Approved Documents L, F, O, and S detail the improvements needed to increase building energy efficiency and the systems that support it. These documents will represent the new requirements that must be met by new buildings, in order to promote advancements in carbon emissions reduction.

Part L – examines property energy efficiency.
Part F – improves ventilation.
Part O – ensures that buildings do not overheat.
Part S – a new Approved Document that details how a building might contain infrastructure for electric vehicles. Starting from June, all new residences must include charging stations for electric vehicles.

These changes apply to new build and existing homes, and non-domestic projects. Any project submitted to Building Control on or after June 15th 2022 will need to meet the new standards.

Overview

• Fabric standards mean increased insulation in walls, floors and roofs – with some new products replacing existing products.
• The changes rely heavily on renewable energy technology – solar PV must be used alongside a traditional gas heating system or a ground / air source system must be used.
• There is a 12 month grace period if notice has been submitted before 15th June however meaningful work must have commenced by 15th June 2023.
• A waste water heat recovery system must be used.
• Also taken into account – lighting in the house, the number of them and their lumens per Watt.
• Prove it – tradespeople now must take photos of their work at junction details and upload them for building control to sign off. Until now this has not been a requirement. Jewson's Build Aviator service can assist tradespeople with this step, ensuring correct materials are purchased and construction details are provided (Contact Build Aviator team for more details).

Part L changes

As you can see from the new details, the amount of insulation in both cavity walls, below ground level and between ceiling rafters has increased significantly. Products in our branches affected by these changes include:

Part L Products

• 150mm Isover CWS32 for Cavity Walls (replaces 100mm CWS32)
• Recticel PIR insulation board 150mm (replaces 100mm) for between rafters and for flooring insulation (above and below slab)
• 300mm Ancon Staifix HRT4 300 Wall Ties (replaces 225mm RT2 and 275mm Ancon Wall Ties. Download more info )
• 150mm Catnic Cavity Wall Lintel (replaces 100mm Catnic Cavity Wall Lintel)

Part F changes

Building ventilation, air quality and preventing condensation in domestic or non-domestic buildings.

Part F products

• UnoHabSingle Room MVHR (exclusively at Jewson.co.uk)
• Airflow Adroit MVHR Systems
• Airflow iConstant and Loovent Continuous Extractor Fans 
• Airflow Aura and Quiet Air Intermittent Extractor Fans 

Part O changes

To complement the increased efficiency achieved through Part L and F improvements, Part O of Building Regulations have been added to prevent overheating in buildings. We have partnered with Dales Eaves one of the UK’s leading shading specialists to deliver a complementary product range that includes:

Part O Products

• Aluminium Lightweight Shading for Patio Doors
• Aluminium Lightweight Shading for Single Windows
• Vertical Stack Shading (by Design and Specification)
• Raking or Part Raking (by Design and Specification)

Part S changes

Part S deals with the need to have Electric Vehicle charging points installed. We have partnered with leading EV charging company Rolec to make a wide range of chargers available.

Part S products

• Wall Pod EV for Home Charging (3 & 7kw Versions)
• Rolec Auto Charge Pedestal Charger for Commercial Applications
• Quantum Fast Charge Pedestals (22kw) for Businesses and Developments with 3 Phase Electrics
• Street charge EV Combination Street Lamp and EV Charger

Progressive change in building performance

Stepping stone regulation

The changes will improve building performance and reduce the carbon footprint of buildings, especially from heating, hot water and electricity. The regulations require a 30% reduction in carbon emissions in new dwellings and a 27% reduction in other building types (existing / non-domestic). It is a stepping stone to new regulations, the Future Home Standard, due to come into force in 2025. The ultimate goal is net zero buildings by 2050.

Key changes to products you use

Fabric specs

• 150mm cavity, 150mm floor insulation (previously 100mm).
• No change to horizontal ceiling (400mm).
• Sloping ceiling – room in roof 150mm between rafters and 50mm underneath.
• Windows u = 1.2 w / m ² K (1.2 watts of energy per m2 for every degree in difference between inside and outside temp). Can be done as double glazing

Solar PV

• For houses the Kw per PV is 40% of the ground floor area / 6.5.
• For example, for a floor area of 100m², the amount of PV would be 6.15kWp ((100*0.4) / 6.5).

Heating system

• You can use a gas / electric boiler, however you will still need to use PV
• If you use air / ground source heat pumps, there is no requirement for PV

Waste water heat recovery

• Showers, including over baths, should be connected to the waste water heat recovery system

Lighting

• Full lighting design needs to be provided.
• You will need to account for how efficient the lights are by measuring the amount of light produced (per Watt of energy).
• Fixed lighting capacity – 185 lumens x the total floor area – minimum efficiency per lamp.

In addition to changes in the fabric we will also see significant amounts of new product types become increasingly commonplace on all builds. As part of the Making Better Homes project we have introduced a number of additional product ranges to help achieve compliance.

Part L Products
Solar PV Systems

Waste Water Heat Recovery 
Air Source Heat Pumps
Pipe Snug Pipe Seals

Key changes - extensions (single, double & loft)

Heating system

• Where a heating system is being extended or replaced, it must meet the requirement of 92% ErP efficiency.
• This also comes into place for replacement of systems within existing buildings.

Ventilation

• For any replacement or renovation of a bathroom and kitchen (including replacing kitchens and bathrooms), ventilation must be checked and/or provided or replaced in line with Building Regulations Part F.

Fabric specs

• 150mm cavity fully filled with Isover CWS36 or partially filled with Recticel Eurowall 100mm*. 
• 100mm floor insulation (previously 75mm).
• Horizontal ceiling 300mm isover spacesaver (previously 270mm)*.
• Sloping ceiling –150mm between rafters and 30mm underneath*.
• Windows U Value = 1.4w/m²k (Previously 1.6).
• Doors U value  = 1.4w/m²k (Previously 1.8).

*Other solutions are available

Key changes - renovations

Changes have been made to specifications where renovations are taking place.

These come into force when:

• More than 50% of the surface of an individual element is being replaced (i.e. wall, floor roof).
• Provision of a new layer through dry lining of the internal surface.
• Replacement of an existing layer through stripping down of an element to expose structural components (i.e. brick/block).
• Replacing the waterproof membrane on a flat roof.
• Provision of cavity wall insulation.

Grace period

If a Part L 2013 notice has been submitted by June 2022, the transitional arrangements means customers will have until June 2023 to begin work. This is applied on a dwelling by dwelling basis rather than a whole site. Any dwellings where work has not started by June 2023 would then need to be constructed to the Part L 2021 regulations.

For larger sites, historically developers might have thought to get around this by doing the minimum amount of work (foundations stage) to one plot and that covers the whole site. Now with the new changes, that is not possible as it is dwelling by dwelling.