CHANGES IN BUILDING REGULATIONS: WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW THEY IMPACT ON YOUR BUILDING PLANS

The Government’s new changes to Building Regulations will come into force on 15^th June 2022.

These are the first steps towards the Future Homes Standard, which is designed to make all new builds net carbon zero by 2025 and significantly improve energy and efficiency in existing buildings.

The key changes for New Homes will be:

• A 30% cut in emissions from new homes
• A 27% cut in non-domestic new builds including offices and shops
• Improvement of heating and lighting efficiency.
• A new Building Regulation to mitigate the risk of overheating in new homes including maximum limits to the amount of glazing on new residential buildings
• New homes will adopt the Fabric Energy Efficiency Standard to measure energy efficiency
• There will be a maximum flow temperature requirement of 55°C for new and replacement heating systems

The key changes for Existing Buildings will be:

• New minimum standards for fabric efficiency – there will be a new efficiency metric for the whole house calculation method for new extensions
• There will be a requirement for new or replacement heating system designs to accept low-carbon heating in future, including integrating the latest Ecodesign appliance benchmarks.

There is also new information regarding infrastructure for electric vehicles and all new homes will be required to have charging points for electric vehicles.

The transition period – 15 June 2022 until 15 June 2023.

Buildings currently in the planning process where documents have been submitted and approved before the 15^th of June 2022 will still be considered under the previous regulations, providing work beings before the 15^th of June 2023.

For work not requiring applications, the new regulations will come into force from the 15^th of June 2022.

For more information, please contact Ed or Kelly on 01284 365345 or email ed@granitebw.co.uk / kelly@granitebw.co.uk.