RICS gives its backing to Reform the Regs campaign

The RICS has thrown its weight behind Building’s Reform the Regs campaign after attacking the complexity of current Building Regulations.

The institution has called for greater clarity on new energy regulations in Part L to enable building control surveyors to enforce the rules.

In a letter to Building, Paul Swift, the chairman of the RICS’ building control forum, said: “It is becoming clear that there is considerable variation of implementation across the country.

“The complexity of the new Part L is such that there will be more variation as designers, contractors and surveyors struggle to understand the guidance. We are charged with enforcing the rules, but to do so we need clarity.”

The support came as leading industry bodies called for a delay in the implementation of the energy regulations. In a letter to Yvette Cooper, the housing and planning minister, the industry groups said more time was needed to carry out calculations that give homes energy ratings and to undertake air-pressure testing to check the energy efficiency in homes.

In the letter the National Federation of Builders, Local Authority Building Control and Robust Details said: “There must be a further period beyond April 2006 in which to find solutions.”

The industry groups said delays in the release of software programmes to calculate energy ratings had caused problems for housebuilders planning their building applications.

The letter also accused the government of underestimating the amount of air-pressure tests that needed to be undertaken. The government calculated that about 10% of new homes would have to be tested, but the industry bodies said about 20% would be subject to the tests.

Letter to Yvette Cooper from LABC, Robust Details and National Federation of Builders

Dear Minister,

We fully understand the Government’s wish to meet its Kyoto targets and that amendments to Part L of the building regulations make a contribution to this. Both those who administer building control and housebuilders working with Inspectors to achieve compliance wish to achieve an orderly introduction of new arrangements for improved airtightness and overall thermal efficiency.

It is also important to emphasis that we are being proactive in working together, arranging seminars, providing other educational activities and linking with expert service providers, particularly to help smaller housebuilders to understand and comply with the new Regulations.

However we are concerned that the published timetable for the introduction of these Regulations does not seem to have taken into account a number of key issues which will affect compliance and indeed their successful and effective introduction. Two issues particularly worry us.

First, the software programmes that are essential to the operation of SAP will not, we understand, be approved by BRE before February 2006, when the date for implementation is 1 April. While a number of programmes, which their authors hope will receive approval, are available this is not a satisfactory basis on which housebuilders can plan their applications under new Regulations, starting in April.

Second, we believe that faulty estimates have been made of the amount of air-testing that will need to be undertaken. It has been assumed that, as a result of repetition of housetypes, no more than 10% of new homes would need to be tested. This seems to be based on extrapolating from what is typically built on larger sites by volume housbuilders. In reality, between 3-4,000 houses are built on single plots and in total 20,000 are built on sites containing 1-10 houses, very few of which are repetitive. This suggests that in excess of 20% of houses will need to be tested and this imposes a far larger burden both on testers and building control authorities than had been anticipated.

Equally, the proportion of houses built by smaller housebuilders and requiring to be tested will be far greater than those of larger builders, imposing on them both disproportionate costs and burdens in arranging tests.

These are both issues that must be properly addressed before the new Regulations can be successfully introduced and we would like to work with your Office to find solutions. We do however believe that more time must be allowed to do that and that there must be a further period beyond April 2006 in which to find solutions.

I hope you will be prepared to grant us an early meeting to consider this proposal and to find positive solutions to matters of grave concern to our respective members.

Yours faithfully
B J Stephens, chief executive, National Federation of Builders
P F Everall, chief executive, Local Authority Building Control
D Baker, chief executive, Robust Details