All change for the Building Regs – what you need to know

The Government is shifting gear to get closer to the 2025 Future Buildings Standard. It means Building Regs are being updated to ensure future homes, shops and offices are more energy efficient. 

If you’re in a construction-related business, or you’re a domestic installer, you’ll need to know what the changes are and how they will affect your organisation. As changes come into play, it is important that businesses have adequate reporting software for field teams so that team productivity is maintained.

This blog tells you everything you need to know about the forthcoming changes and how a cloud-based job management software can help your business minimise any disruption to your team.

What parts of the Building Regs are changing?

The forthcoming changes include interim uplifts to Part L (Conservation of fuel and power) and Part F (Ventilation), as well as the introduction of Part O (Overheating).

What are the Part L building regulation changes?

From 15th June 2022, all new homes must comply with increased energy performance standards by producing 31% less CO2 emissions than current standards – this applies to all residential properties. Emissions from other new buildings, including offices and shops, must be reduced by 27%.

This will be achieved through carbon saving technology and building fabric improvements.

The key changes are:

• A reduction of carbon emissions by 31% in all new builds
• A reduction of carbon emissions by 27% for all non-domestic new builds
• A new metric for measuring energy efficiency, ‘primary energy’, will be used in combination with CO2 metrics to assess compliance (revising the SAP* and SBEM** energy assessments)
• New minimum efficiency standards for both new and replacement thermal elements, windows and doors
• New maximum flow temperature
• Revised heating and lighting efficiency standards
• New ventilation requirements
• Updates to the Fabric Energy Efficiency Standards (FEES)
• New regs to prevent overheating
• Prep work for electric vehicle charging points

*SAP = Standard Assessment Procedure 
** SBEM = Simplified Building Energy Model

The new approved documents will be published in 2 separate papers – Volume 1 for dwellings, and Volume 2 for buildings other than dwellings.

Importantly for installers, the adoption of low carbon technology will also apply to home renovations and extensions. 

Why is Part L changing again?

Most of the 2022 Building Reg changes are part of a roadmap towards the introduction of the Future Homes Standard in 2025 (recently renamed the Future Homes and Buildings Standard).

The whole point of the current round of changes is to help the construction industry ease towards higher energy efficiency standards and low carbon heating. It’s essentially an interim move to help the country achieve its net zero carbon goals by 2050.

It is expected (according to CIBSE – the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers) that an average home built under the new standards will have 75- 80% less carbon emissions than one built to current energy efficiency requirements. Since buildings generate nearly 40% of annual global CO2 emissions, widespread decarbonisation of housing is essential.

Why now and not 2025? 

The interim changes are necessary to help the industry adapt and ensure there is enough time for supply chains to mature. They are essentially a stepping stone.

What is the time frame for the Part L regulation changes?

The new changes will come into effect from 15th June 2022. All new planning applications submitted from this date will need to apply the new rules. 

There will be a one-year transition period to allow for planning applications already underway (for planning applications submitted prior to 15th June this year, building work must commence before 15 June 2023, otherwise the new rules apply). For multiple dwellings in this scenario, work on all units must commence before 15th June 2023. Any dwellings not started by this date must meet the new standards.

Are changes also happening to Part F of the building regulations?

Yes. The improvements to ventilation will combine extract ventilation from wet rooms, whole dwelling ventilation and purge ventilation. The changes are designed to simplify regs and support the safety of residents in newly built homes. 

In the future, homes will be better insulated and more airtight, and the reg changes will also prevent the spread of airborne viruses in new non-residential buildings. The rule changes will minimize the ingress of external pollutants, and support better installation and performance standards for ventilation systems. 

Find out more about the changes to Part F here.

Why is Part O being introduced?

A completely new aspect of Building Regulations, Part O, will tackle the potential issues of overheating in all newly built residential homes. The goal of Part O is to ensure buildings are designed to limit unwanted solar gain during the summer months and provide occupants with adequate means of quickly removing excess heat from indoors. There will be maximum limits to the amount of glazing allowed on new residential buildings.

Read the approved document for Part O here.

Further info on all of the forthcoming changes covered by the RIBA Journal can be found here.

How to manage these changes for your team

Any changes in legislation that impact construction teams and installers must be managed with care. With new guidelines and standards to meet, it’s important that everyone has the right tools to ensure changes are implemented and that everyone is kept on the same page.

Digitised job Sheets are becoming an increasingly useful tool to ensure all necessary information regarding a job and its costs are provided to staff in real time. Reminders about new regulations can be included. 

With Joblogic’s job sheet software, all job information can be easily viewed, stored and accessed anytime, anywhere. Engineers can receive and update job details via Joblogic’s mobile App. Managers or office staff can add relevant checklists to job sheets, including compliance updates and service checks. 

Joblogic makes managing legislative changes easy. Why not book a Demo and we’ll show you how.