Building (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/ 1230)

Important update to the Building Regulations in England which come into force on 21 December 2018

The following notice has been received from MHCLG:

The Building (Amendment) Regulations 2018
The Building (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/ 1230) (the “Amendment Regulations”). The regulations were made on 28 November 2018 and laid before Parliament on 29 November 2018. The guidance applies to buildings and building work in England.

Publications
The Amendment Regulations and accompanying Explanatory Memorandum will be available at www.legislation.gov.uk.

MHCLG Circular 02/2018, which describes the amendments more fully is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-amendment-regulations-2018-circular-022018

The Government response to the consultation is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/banning-the-use-of-combustible-materials-in-the-external-walls-of-high-rise-residential-buildings

The 2018 updated edition of Approved Documents B and 7 are available at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-approved-document-b
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/material-and-workmanship-approved-document-7

Coming into force date
The Amendment Regulations come into force on 21 December 2018.

Ban of combustible materials in the external wall of buildings
Introduction
New regulation 7(2) of the Building Regulations 2010 applies to any building with a storey at least 18m above ground level and which contains:

  • one or more dwellings; or
  • an institution; or
  • a room for residential purposes (excluding any room in a hostel, hotel or a boarding house).

This includes residential blocks of flats, student accommodations, care homes, sheltered housing, hospitals and dormitories in boarding schools with a storey above 18 m in height. Regulation 7(2) requires that all materials which become part of an external wall or specified attachment achieve European Class A2-s1, d0 or Class A1 except for components exempted in Regulation 7(3).

The definitions of external wall and specified attachments are included in Regulation 2. These definitions include any parts of the external wall and balconies, solar panels and sun shadings.

Transitional arrangement
The Amendment Regulations come into force on 21 December 2018. However the Amendment Regulations will not apply where a building notice or an initial notice has been given to, or full plans deposited with, a local authority before 21 December 2018 and either the building work to which it relates:
(a) has started before that day; or
(b) is started within the period of two months beginning on that day.
Please note that “building notice”, “initial notice” and “full plans” have the meanings given in Regulation 2 of the Building Regulations 2010.

Commencement of work
In the Department’s opinion the commencement of work would usually be marked by work such as:
excavation for strip or trench foundations or for pad footings;
digging out and preparation of ground for raft foundations;
vibrofloatation (stone columns) piling, boring for piles or pile driving;
drainage work specific to the building(s) concerned.

We consider that the following sorts of work would not be likely to constitute the commencement of work:
removal of vegetation
demolition of any previous buildings on the site;
removal of top soil;
removal or treatment of contaminated soil;
excavation of trial holes;
dynamic compaction;
general site servicing works (e.g. roadways)

In some cases, applications will be in respect of a number of buildings on a site, for example a number of houses. In such cases it is the commencement of work on the first of the buildings within the application which determines whether all the building work can take advantage of the transitional provisions, not each individual building.

Material change of use
Please note that Regulations 5 and 6 provide that, where the use of a building is changed such that the building becomes a building described in Regulation 7(4), the construction of the external wall, and specified attachments, must be investigated and, where necessary, work must be carried out to ensure they only contain materials achieving European Class A2-s1, d0 or European Class A1 other than those exempted by Regulation 7(3).

Approved Document B
There is no change to Part B of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 2010.

Approved Document B (AD-B) has been updated to provide guidance with regards to the requirements of Regulations 7(2) and 6(3). Additional minor changes have been made to Approved Document B Volume 2 to update some of the references as a consequence of the updated guidance.

Note that Approved Document B Volume 1 Part B4 has not been amended because the guidance provided in this volume is limited to dwellinghouse less than 18m in height as highlighted in paragraph 0.1 of the volume.

Approved Document 7
Approved Document 7 has been updated to clarify that this document provides information with regards to Regulation 7(1) but not Regulation 7(2); 7(3); 7(4) of the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended).

Here is the Statutory Instrument that changes the Regulations: 

Statutory Instrument


Enquiries
Telephone enquiries should be addressed to Technical Policy Division on 0303 444 0000 and all email enquiries to [email protected].

CIBSE Technical Note

The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers has issued the following Technical Note. The purpose is to clarify and explain the recent amendment to Building Regulations which bans the use of combustible cladding on high rise residential buildings.
 

Revised Document B Technical Note

 

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Building Regulations