BUILDING ENVELOPE


Overheating is out


TuffX’s Paul Higgins explains what the new Part O of the Building Regulations means for glass and glazing in new homes


T


he new Building Regulations Approved Document Part O is designed to tackle overheating in


new residential buildings. s the first regulation of its kind in England, self- builders and housebuilders need to be clear about what is and isn’t affected when it comes to choosing glazing for their projects.


In a nutshell, Part O seeks to ensure that the design and construction of new residential buildings limit unwanted solar gain in summer and provide adequate means to remove heat from the indoor environment. The Part O regulations are designed


to protect people’s health and welfare by reducing the occurrences of high indoor temperatures in the face of rising global temperatures and the frequency of extreme events such as heatwaves. Along with the rest of the new Building Regulations, Part O came into force in June, and shortly after our UK summer arrived with temperatures reaching 40°C, cementing the urgent and necessary need for this.


nov/dec 2022


We are now in the one-year transition period after the new Building Regulations came into effect, to allow for planning applications that are already underway. Any schemes where full plans or a building notice was submitted ahead of 15 June 2022 can be built to previous regulations if work starts within 12 months.


ROUTES TO COMPLIANCE There are two routes to Part O compliance first, the Simplified ethod and secondly, Dynamic Thermal odelling. or single dwellings such as new homes, the Simplified ethod is most likely to be used, with the Dynamic Thermal ethod more likely to be used for a block of ats, single aspect dwellings or buildings with more complex design requirements. or the Simplified ethod, Part O sets out tables detailing maximum permitted glazed areas, taking into consideration the location of the building and whether it has cross ventilation. Buildings in high risk areas  currently specific postcodes


in central London and anchester  may also need to provide shading for glazed areas at certain points (and the means for achieving this, such as external shutters and overhangs, are detailed in the approved document).


SOLAR SOLUTIONS


High-quality solar glass products will play an important part in achieving these new standards that self-builders, along with housebuilders and developers, must adhere to. By using a tinted coating on the eterior of the glass to reect heat away from the interior, solar glass allows an ambient interior temperature to be achieved, reducing the need for expensive air conditioning, for example, which will also cut energy costs – something that is on everyone’s minds right now.


t is possible to fit solar glass that


reects twice as much heat as standard glass. or eample, with the pproed Document Part O in mind, there are now specifically deeloped rooights that achieve this through a coating, which


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