Where are the Approved Documents?
Following the announcement of Housing & Planning Minister John Healey that new Building Regulations will take effect from October 2010, concerns have been expressed about the lack of Approved Documents to provide guidance on their implementation.
Geoff Wilkinson of the Association of Consultant Approved Inspectors, said, ‘The ACAI very much welcomes the announcement of the new Building Regulations, However, there are concerns over the current lack of Approved Documents and the 6-month lead-in time.
‘Approved Documents will tell us “how” to comply with the new regulations. Until these are published, we cannot properly advise our clients.
‘Approved Inspectors are usually appointed on large projects that are months or, even, years away from commencing on site. Having copies of the Approved Documents is really critical to planning and costing such projects. The industry needs time to train and raise general awareness levels, which cannot begin until the documents are available to us. History must not repeat itself here; we just cannot afford a recurrent of the issues raised over the last Part L introduction.’
Mel Starrs, principal consultant at sustainability consultant Inbuilt is concerned about how the aggregated approach to non-domestic buildings will be translated to real life. He asks, ‘How will we be able to predict what carbon savings are required for compliance at very early concept design stage. These issues are much more complicated than for housing, and we look forward to seeing the detail of how this will be tackled in the Approved Documents.’
