The Part L changes are applied to the current Building Regulations in place for those working in the trade industry and self-builders. The Building Regulations are a type of legislation that consists of various different standards that were ultimately put in place to outline the health and safety needs that must be met when building properties.
Due to the recent changes in the Part L section of the regulations, we’ll be covering them throughout this article and how they will affect our projects and proceedings.
What is Part L of the Building Regulations?
The building regulations legislation has a total of 16 different areas to be covered. The Part L area encompasses the Conservations of Fuel and Power which aims to highlight the energy efficiency of both current and future homes.
Part L was previously set as four different documents but recently was shaved down to be just 2, document L1A and document L2B. The presence of these 2 documents outlines an aim to reduce carbon emissions by 31% for dwellings and 27% for buildings other than dwellings. This means that procedures must be followed to ensure that new future buildings comply with these aims.
Approved document L1A
This document is intended for dwellings and covers the need to make new home builds energy efficient. It is the responsibility of any tradespeople who are working on the construction of the property to ensure it is compliant with the procedures of this document.
Approved document L2B
This document is intended for buildings other than dwellings, so includes making sure that renovations or extensions to current homes are energy efficient. The document observes that it is not always possible to achieve new build home standards but that if a thermal element of a home is being renovated, it must adhere to the Part L1A document standards.
When will the changes come into effect?
The Part L changes were announced in December of 2021 by government officials and have begun to take effect as of June 2022.
As mentioned previously, these changes are being established as an effort to help advance the trade industry and work towards a greener future. The action is also in preparation for the roll-out of the Future Homes and Building Standard, a legislation due to be introduced in 2025.
One thing to note though is that there is some leniency towards properties that were still within the planning process prior to the start of the Part L changes. Any property or application for notices that were applied for prior to June 2022 are still treated as part of the old regulations, as long as building starts prior to June 2023.
What are the new changes?
The key changes that have been made as per the Part L alterations will affect any individuals or organisations that work on renovations, builds, extensions or home improvements on both new and existing properties.
The notable changes are as follows:
Changes to SAP 2012 and a new energy rate
New property builds will have a new metric in place to measure energy usage called primary energy, which is measured using kWhPE/(m² per year).
Properties will also now be assessed and calculated as per an updated version of a previous specification called the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP 2012).
This updated version, SAP 10.2, uses a dedicated software to calculate the amount of primary energy that’s needed to create the amount of energy to be distributed throughout the property.
Better insulation conditions
Building, transforming or extending a property to be solidly insulated should be a primary regard of any tradesperson doing construction on a property. The Part L changes will enforce new limiting U-values, which is a unit of measurement that represents the following calculation: rate of heat transfer through a structure ÷ difference in temperature across the structure.
One other consideration that should be taken into account is the application of ‘thermal bridging’ – a term used to describe gaps in insulation across the property. These gaps in the insulation cause heat loss which contributes to the decrease of energy efficiency of a building, meaning they must be addressed to hit the set targets of reducing CO2 emissions.
For work on existing properties, any work done on thermal elements will need to adhere to new fabric energy efficiency standards.
Conducting site-audits
A ‘self-audit’ must be conducted including documenting all plans and photographs as evidence. Whilst this is typically something done by most professionals in the trade industry, it is not typically a consideration for self-builders.
How will the changes affect GreenSmart?
It has always been in our best interest to ensure that the services we provide are the best in the business. The changes that the Part L regulation has introduced won’t change this and we will always make sure to provide our customers with high-end, quality service.
Changes to our day-to-day services:
- All new-builds/new heating systems must be designed to work at a temperature of 55°c I.e. bigger radiators and larger supply pipework. This is in an effort to make homes ‘heat pump ready.’ If 55°c isn’t feasible I.e. systems with a cylinder then we need to get the temperature as low as possible whilst maintaining comfort in the property.
- In new builds/new heating systems all pipework must be insulated. That includes pipework in voids and floors.
- If changing a boiler then we must insulate all visible pipework at the boiler.
- If changing a boiler then all radiators must have thermostatic radiator valves. It was a recommendation before but now it is mandatory. TRV’s must be installed on every radiator except the one in the same room as the room thermostat.
- Any property with a total floor area of above 150m2 will have to be zoned. This means separate heating zones and multiple room thermostats so that areas of the house not being used aren’t being needlessly heated.
- If changing a boiler then we must range rate the KW output to suit the property.
- Magnetic filters are now a requirement.
- Heating systems should be drained every 5 years and re-filled with new inhibitor
- The water quality of heating systems must be checked every year (as part of a service would be the ideal time).
As trading plumbers and heating engineers, our customers’ comfort in their own homes is a top priority and we strive to make sure they have working heating systems come rain or shine. Our installation work will be enhanced to ensure there is absolutely minimal heat loss throughout the property.
We will comply with the Part L changes and make sure to further improve our client’s homes according to the set out standards.
