This Section:
Proposed Changes to Part L 2010
The Proposed Changes
2010 sees proposed changes to Part L of the Building Regulations. After the radical changes made to the Building Regulations in April 2006, it was apparent that some aspects weren't working. The Government would like the regulations, which were the subject of consultation (currently waiting for feedback) to come into effect in April 2010 (more likely to be October 2010).
One of the problems with the current part L was its focus on emissions rather than energy efficiency, so the government plans to introduce a fuel based Target Emission Rate (TER). Under the current regulations, a house with gas heating can comply with the TER. If a biomass system were used instead of gas, its carbon emissions would be about 30% less. The biomass system may be less efficient and use about 50% more energy than gas. The fuel based TER will drive down the emissions target for the biomass heated house so that energy it uses is at an appropriate level.
Buildings are not performing as designed so many changes proposed are intended to tackle this flaw. To help Building Control Officers enforce the regulations, the revisions call for all design-stage submissions to be accompanied by a copy of the design specification. This has been the case with the NHER accreditation scheme since 2006. The proposed ADL1A will require the builder carry out a preliminary calculation before construction works starts based on plans and specifications and provide this as part of the submission of plans. The calculation will give an indication of whether a design is compliant and will produce a list of features of the design that are critical to achieving compliance.
Armed with a copy of the design specification, it will make it easier for Building Control to check 'u' values by checking the thickness of insulation for example. Designers will also have to submit a commissioning plan at the start of a project to increase the emphasis on commissioning to ensure systems perform as intended.
Step changes in Part L of the Building Regulations and energy efficiency of buildings will also reflect improvements in technology and also drive further improvements. With similar changes in the coming years we will eventually get to the situation where new buildings are zero carbon aimed for 2016 in the case of dwellings and 2019 in the case of non-dwellings.
The key changes in Part L 2010 are discussed in more detail here.
Changes to the 2006 Criterion