by two different groups of offi cials. Building Regulations cover the whole
of England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. There is an established cycle of review, consultation and amendment. Interestingly, when now deposed Building Regulations Minister Andrew Stunnell asked industry for views on how to improve the Building Regulations, there was widespread support for the structured approach to consultation and revision. But under the planning regime,
each planning authority can set its own requirements. This means that each planning authority can adopt a different approach to the incorporation of renewables into projects. Unfortunately, this means that each planning authority can set its own engineering requirements, overlaid onto the relevant national building regulations. And this, in turn, means that the optimised Part L compliant solution may now have to be altered, or sub-optimised, to comply with the planning rules. The net effect is sub optimal engineering, cost penalties in both capital and operating budgets, and economic misallocation. It also leads to cost penalties for the supply chain, which has to cope with a plethora of technical requirements, not a single set of national technical regulations. Surely it is time that we clarifi ed this.
We should have a single set of national technical regulations, so that everyone knows the score. If the planning authority wants to specify technical requirements, it should be limited to using those regulations, not supplementing them. The Housing Standards Review offers an opportunity to achieve this for domestic regulations. If successful, then it can be extended to the non-domestic market. We shall soon know whether Ministers wish to take that opportunity. It would be good to see them rationalising the engineering and compliance requirements into a single set of technical requirements for minimising energy use and carbon emissions from buildings.
● HYWEL DAVIES is technical director of CIBSE
www.cibse.org
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www.cibsejournal.com
June 2013 CIBSE Journal
19
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