Building Regulations News Roundup - April 2007
A brief synopsis of some of the key news items related to technical guidance, construction practice, and new regulations that you might have missed in the press.
Government sets 2008 deadline for energy certificates
Energy Performance Certificates will be required for all buildings constructed, sold or let from October 2008. Plans for the long-awaited Energy Performance Certificates, which many predict will transform both the domestic and commercial markets, have been unveiled by the government.
Building Online, 30th March 2007
IET Guidance Note 8: Earthing and Bonding
This new Guidance Note is part of a series issued by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (formerly known as the Institution of Electrical Engineers) to enlarge upon and simplify some of the requirements in BS 7671: 2001 Requirements for Electrical Installations (also entitled the IEE Wiring Regulations, Sixteenth Edition), as amended by Amendment No 2: 2004.
Inquiry into the construction industry
The House of Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee has announced that it is to hold a new inquiry into the construction industry.
For more information view the press release.
Neat solution
The tool for assessing the environmental impact of NHS healthcare facilities is undergoing a facelift. The NHS Environmental Assessment Tool, has been the main method available for assessing the impact hospitals and healthcare facilities have on their surroundings. But in that time both best practice and Building Regulations have moved on significantly. The upshot is that achieving a top rating under NEAT has now become moderately easy and, more importantly, some of the standards it uses no longer meet current regulations.
With this in mind the Department of Health has commissioned BRE to completely revamp NEAT over the coming year, bringing it in line with today’s standards and making it tougher. The most significant likely change is a switch from self-assessment to an independent form of certification for new and refurbished build.
Building Services Journal, April 2007, p.57
RICS reports record growth
Construction has kicked off 2007 with the record acceleration in workloads. A strong private housing market and buoyant commercial property market saw workloads expand at the fastest pace since Q2 of 2004 after the sixth consecutive quarter of above average growth. The RICS construction market - which charts surveyors’ sector workloads - said Wales recorded the fastest expansion in workloads with strong results in Northern Ireland reversing two quarters of decline. However the profit outlook was less optimistic as energy and raw materials prices continue to pressure the bottom line.
QS Week, 3rd April 2007
Siting new buildings
Developers siting new buildings close to hazardous industrial installations could be forced to finance some of the extra costs involved in making the plants safer, under government proposals being unveiled today. If implemented, the ideas would for the first time establish the principle of spreading out the costs of reducing the dangers of such sites between their operators and nearby businesses.
The Financial Times, 2nd April 2007
Steel-fibre-reinforced concrete
New from The Concrete Society is Technical Report 63 – Guidance for the Design of Steel-Fibre-Reinforced Concrete. The Report summarises the wide range of current applications for steel-fibre-reinforced concrete, including ground-supported and pile-supported slabs, sprayed concrete, composite slabs on steel decking and precast units. Practical aspects such as production and quality control are also considered. For further details visit: www.concrete.org.uk/bookshop.
Timber takes up the airtightness challenge
This article explains how timber frame buildings can help the construction industry meet Part L requirements and win the battle against air leakage.
To read the article see: http://www.sitelines.co.uk/pdfs/23789.pdf.
SiteLines, Spring 2007
Stonehenge visitor centre gets go-ahead
Planning permission has been granted for English Heritage's proposed £67m visitor centre at Stonehenge, according to the Guardian, 30 March 2007. The scheme was originally intended as a millennium project but is still awaiting a decision on the roads surrounding it, which have already been subject to a series of planning inquiries.
