20 THE CLIMATE CHALLENGE Part S: Charged with the responsibility
Part S provides clear challenges as well as opportunities for the car charging industry, however while the solutions are available, the requirements for major housing developments remain somewhat mysterious. James Parker spoke to specialist charging firm Fortis EV to find out more.
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art S of the Building Regulations was introduced in 2022 as part of the new set of regulations intended to assist the UK housebuilding sector move towards the much lower carbon emissions that will be required from new homes by the Future Homes Standard, due in 2025. The aims are laudable, but rolling it out across our variety of new housing schemes, from detached dwellings to multi-occupancy, is going to take a huge amount of focus. The requirements of Part S essentially mean that all new developments (as well as major renovations of 10 or more dwellings), are required to provide EV charging points for residents, but there are a series of issues in terms of the charging infrastructure needed both now and for the future which can make compliance complicated.
The minimum required by the new standard for new builds is that charging points must either be provided for all the parking spaces associated with the new dwellings, or the number of dwellings that a car park in a new scheme serves. Where there are accessible parking
spaces, at least one must have a charging point or a future connection for a point to be added at a later date. And if a scheme has surplus car parking spaces (ie more spaces than dwellings), then ‘cable routes’ can be installed for future charging points – this is a requirement for schemes over 10 dwellings.
Some of the factors for new schemes are unambiguous – charging points have to provide 7 kW ‘trickle charge’ as a minimum, and methods for installing single points per home are fairly established. he challenge is for firms focusing on developments over 10 homes, in terms of working out how much infrastructure for future EV charging they need to provide; covered car parks are a whole different story.
Developers therefore need to establish exactly what they are going to need for compliance, both now and in the future. This could create some confusion, and the guidance in Part S is not totally clear. Finally, Part S brings in a price cap on EV charging point installation designed to ensure businesses and consumers are not unfairly treated as they switch to EVs – £3,600 per unit. But there are provisions in Part S for where this needs to be exceeded, arguably creating further confusion. However, according to Will Temperley of charging point specialist provider Fortis EV, this budget constraint doesn’t provide an issue for basic installations: “It’s fairly straightforward, there are a lot of good systems out there now.” However, he adds “there are so many variants”; these include integrating solar and using it to charge the vehicle overnight if battery storage is present, or using Wi-Fi
voice control to turn a charger on and off as needed.
SPARKING INTEREST
In terms of the charging points themselves, Regulation 44J sets out the minimum standards that must be complied with in order to pass Building Control under the new Part S. As well as being able to power each parking space they cover, and be compatible with all vehicle types, each charging point has to run on its own dedicated circuit. This, plus the fact they are covered by Part P of the Building Regs governing electrical safety, means that they must be installed by a ualified electrician with the appropriate training and certification. he work done has to be inspected and approved by either a registered ‘competent person,’ or local building control, who will then present the installation with a ompliance ertificate.
There are ‘tethered’ and ‘untethered charging points – the former have charging cables permanently tethered to the station, but the latter are also termed ‘universal sockets’ and are the required solution under Part S. The Regs allow for tethered points in exceptional circumstances, but only when the vehicle requirements are explicitly clear. They offer versatility for users to charge different cars at different times, if they have different connection types.
FORTIS EV – EMBRACING THE CHALLENGE In founding Fortis EV in 2020, Will Temperley was moving into a new sector from civils and foundations specifically, having seen the opportunity to apply Fortis Foundations’ experience to deliver charging points in both commercial and domestic markets. Fortis EV doesn’t design the products, but selects from a range of different solutions from providers to present a customer with a workable solution, and installs it. emperley says that from the firms experience thus far in the housebuilding sector, while installing a single charging point to the outside of a house, or a charge point system for refurbishments, is relatively simple, the overall picture in terms of what needs to be installed for the future in larger schemes is “a bit of a minefield. While the reuirements are
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