INDUSTRY COMMENT Part L – what it means for the industry
Pete Mills, commercial technical operations manager at Bosch Commercial & Industrial discusses how the new Part L Building Regulations will impact the industry
What is Part L?
Part L of the new building regulations is something the industry will now be familiar with as it came into effect in June of last year. It is a significant piece of legislation as it guides the industry towards the changes that will come into play in 2025 which will see the introduction of the Future Buildings Standard for non-domestic buildings. While the full impact of this legislation is yet to be felt by the industry as of yet, there is much to review from the industry’s perspective. The document has been available for review
from the government’s website for a while now, the purpose being for stakeholders to become familiarised and to be abreast of the industry change that is incoming. There are several key areas from Part L that must be considered carefully, particularly for installers concerned with replacing boilers and heating systems in non- domestic buildings.
First thing’s first
The first noticeable thing in the document is the renaming of divisions. We no longer have A & B designations for new build or existing properties and ‘non-domestic’ now means ‘buildings other than dwellings’. The purpose of this is to simplify terminology as we now have a single document to work from, the format being derived from the Hackett Report, a fundamental review of Building Regulations emerging from the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Weather compensation is recommended for building on the normal requirements for control of heating systems and zones. There is also more coherence between the required interlocks between room control, boilers and pumps, an area that is unfortunately all too often overlooked.
Long term implications
The long view of Part L means that we need to be prepared to meet the requirements of 2025 and beyond. That means futureproofing for eventual connection to district heating needs to be considered where systems are being renewed with the provision of capped- off connections that would accommodate a connection at a later date. The replacement of boilers must be considered as the new legislation requires flushing and cleaning of existing systems as well as water treatment whenever a new appliance is installed.
At the controls Swegon qp BSEE July22.qxp_Layout 1 23/6/22 13:43 Page 1
Thermostatic room controls ought to be fitted where it is technically feasible unless individual
heating zone controls can be justified. This will inevitably lead to additional costs of replacement but will improve on comfort levels and overall system efficiency. Building automation and control systems are given significant new focus. For new or replacement systems where the output is 180 kW, any replacement will need to have capabilities that allow much greater monitoring and benchmarking of the building’s energy usage to inform building owners and operators of losses and potential improvements. This low output threshold will no doubt pull in many smaller buildings that have to date and very simple control of their heating systems. One of the most interesting new points from Part L is the requirement to limit heat gains in buildings. A common problem for new building developments has been building overheating in the warmer months. This means that installers should pay close attention to the revised tables of measure for insulation heating levels of thickness. A point that has been made painstakingly clear with the current international factors is that fossil fuel prices are increasingly volatile and sensitive to events out of our control. There is
a large emphasis from the industry on greener technologies and renewable fuel. For example, the report maps out a customer who wishes to make the change from using oil to LPG - the legislation maps out that this must not produce more CO than the one currently being used and must not have a higher primary energy demand per kWh – such would be the case switching from oil to LPG.
New replacement processes
An example to consider would be an old heating system that needs replacing – there are some important processes to be aware of such as the design for lower temperatures to allow any future switch to the use of heat pumps and other greener technologies. Included in this, there is a temperature limit of 55C while it is recommended to decrease this further. In the case where there are space limitations for radiators, the system will still be required to have the lowest flow temperature possible. It is vital that we all keep up to date as these new Building Regulations come into effect and prepare accordingly.
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