Part L building regulations transition period cut

Transition time for introduction of the revised Part L 2006 regulations cut in a bid to accelerate the rate at which carbon emissions from buildings are reduced.

The Government is cutting the transition time for introduction of the revised Part L 2006 regulations to one year from the usual maximum of three years in a bid to accelerate the rate at which carbon emissions from buildings are reduced.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has now ruled that all new buildings for which full building plans have not been approved by 2006-04-06 must comply with the new Part L from that date.

Announcing the speed-up, Yvette Cooper, Housing and Planning Minister, claimed that the revised regulations would raise the energy efficiency of buildings by 20 per cent, or by 40 per cent since 2002.

The decision means that work which has already received full building plans approval but where work has not yet started will need to begin before April 2007 to secure exemption rather than after a transitional period of up to three years as permitted the last time Part L was updated.

Smaller building works that have not started before the new enforcement date and do not require full building plans approval will need to comply straight away unless contracts have already been signed.

Where contracts have been entered into before the April date, work will need to commence within six months of that date to be covered by the transitional arrangements.

Exceptions from compliance demand.

ODPM says that from the date at which the revised Part L regulations come into effect, any building work must comply with the regulations unless it started before that date in accordance with a building notice, full plans, initial notice or amendment notice.

Where full plans are not required to be deposited and a contract has been entered into before the date on which the revised regulations come into effect, they will not apply to such work provided it is commenced before 2006-10-01.

Nor will the new ruling apply in cases where full plans have been deposited and approved before the due date, provided that work is commenced before 2007-04-01.

Similar exceptions are made where a plans certificate, or such certificate combined with an initial notice, has been given to a local authority prior to 2006-04-06.

The revisions to Part L set maximum carbon emissions for whole buildings.

ODPM says that this performance-based approach will offer designers the flexibility to choose solutions that best meet their needs, and that are cost effective and practical.

However, it comments, the revisions will raise performance standards to a level that will provide a strong incentive to designers to consider low and zero carbon systems.

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