Proposed Changes to Building Regulations: Future Changes?

The Building Regulations can seem as if they are constantly changing - but sometimes it can be useful to take a look at what’s just over the horizon. The Department for Communities and Local Government Department (DCLG) website is regularly updated with new building division research papers that outline potential future developments – see www.communities.gov.uk. Recent papers include:

Refuges – Fire: BD2441

This report looked at refuges, the use of staircases, and management procedures by disabled persons during fires. The report concluded that disabled building users have a good understanding of current provisions – but they lack confidence in them. Respondents felt that the physical construction of refuges required little improvement, but that management procedures require a thorough overhaul and that there is a lack of basic understanding from professionals within the construction industry. Rather than adopt a ‘minimum’ standards approach, ‘optimum’ design is to be encouraged, and there will be further research in to improving vertical means of escape.

A code of practice is proposed, and further changes may include the provision of evacuation procedures within the access statement, or the inclusion of evacuation procedures within the Approved Documents (B or M being the most likely).

Performance Testing: BD2535

A range of pre-completion testing is already called for – including air pressure testing, drain tests, sound tests between dwellings, and for fire detection/alarm systems. This research paper looks at whether better compliance can be achieved if further testing is introduced.

Areas being considered include:

•    Tests for insulation effectiveness/continuity
•    Measurement of ambient CO2, methane and radon in recently completed buildings
•    Airtightess testing for fire barriers, to identify leaks around fireplaces, to identify leaks in the sub-floor where there is landfill gas.
•    Noise transmission across common parts of flats, from small rooms, and from services.
•    Flue tests in different weather conditions.

The research paper acknowledges that there is little appetite for further such testing – particularly to identify faults late-on during the construction process; additional costs would be incurred, remedial works may be necessary – with a delay in occupancy too. For these reasons further Accredited, or ‘Robust’, details may prove to be the most effective way forward in these areas – with testing remaining an option for innovative schemes.