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New Legislation opens the gate to New Ideas.
The pace of regulatory change does not abate and four pieces of Legislation will impose new standards of Design and Construction from early next year.
- The Sustainable and Secure Building Act
- The European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBP)
- New Building Regulation. New Part L and F
- Fire Safety Regulatory Reform order
Will raise standards of energy efficiency and make fire safety design and management risk based.
The new Building Regulation will be published in January for implementation from 1st April 2006 and will result in a fundamental shift in Building Design to not only New Build but also extensions and alterations.
Recommendations include, amongst many others
- A 20% reduction in energy use
- The removal of the Elemental Method of design
- The introduction of a new Carbon based National Calculation Method
- Mandatory Pressure testing
- Removal of the exemption for Retail Glazing
- An increase in Air tightness Standards
- A new Philosophy on Whole Building ventilation
- Mandatory Log Books
- The notion of Consequential Improvements i.e. 10% - 20% of budget allocated to energy saving when renovating
The meeting of these new standards will require us all to open our minds to new ideas of how we meet this new challenge.