A ErP rating
2,200 l/h output
Water Reg 4
Part L *
Priority
There is clearly an opportunity to generate more homes and give more people the opportunity to buy or rent good quality accommodation, but all the pieces need to be in place and quality control must be a top priority. We cannot aff ord to ignore the lessons of Grenfell, Rochdale, and Covid. In the meantime, the Building Safety Act is seeking to drive up safety and quality standards across the built environment. It has already altered the regulations that apply to all construction work and not just higher risk/high rise residential buildings (HRBs) including the supporting approved documents that apply to all projects. It is also introducing secondary legislation that aff ects all building work. These are changes that the government has been urging the industry to
embrace so it is vital this is not undermined by lack of enforcement. “The simplest thing is to treat every building as high risk,” said Nick Mead, chair of BESA’s Building Safety Act Advisory Group. “The Act has already signifi cantly changed the rules, and every occupant deserves to be safe. Our industry has become very lax in its record keeping, particularly around change management. “If you cannot provide proof of why a decision was made or that the work
was carried out by a competent person, the Regulator will not approve it.” The advisory group, which was set up to advise BESA members and other specialist contractors about the specifi c issues relating to the building services sector, warned that MEP fi rms faced scrutiny because of the relative complexity of their work and the “eagerness of many specifi ers to spread risks around their supply chains”. Several BESA advisory group members highlighted disputes arising about the defi nition of their role. If you change something on site, you can be deemed to become a ‘designer’ under the terms of the Act which has signifi cant risk and liability implications. Others added that almost every client had a diff erent
defi nition of competence and required diff erent types of evidence from contractors. This highlighted the pressing need for a standard format for providing evidence of competence in line with the Act, the group advised. BESA is, therefore, taking part in a major exercise led
by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) to review and defi ne installer competencies required by individuals under the Act. This will set out the skills, knowledge, experience, and behaviours for our sector’s occupations and the routes to achieving and evidencing competence in line with these values.
As the building engineering sector goes about trying to put its house in order, it will be keen to see that the same safety and quality standards are imposed in all parts of the built environment…and properly enforced. For more information about building safety visit the
BESA Building Safety Act Hub.
www.theBESA.com
Stainless steel condensing water heater.
Available in 10 power outputs over 3 storage capacities
Storage tank, heat exchanger and coil all manufactured from high quality stainless steel
Lightweight construction and slim build
Enhanced durability under challenging water conditions
Up to 2,200 l/h continuous outputs
High demand for hot water? There’s a Hamworthy for that.
DOWNLOAD THE HVR APP NOW March 2024
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