Building Regulations 2000
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2000/2531 |
2000 No. 2531
BUILDING AND BUILDINGS ENGLAND AND WALES
The Building Regulations 2000
Made 13th September 2000
Laid before Parliament 22th September 2000
Coming into force 1st January 2001
The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 1(1), 3(1), 5, 8(2), 35 and 126 of, and paragraphs 1, 2, 4, 7 and 8 of Schedule 1 to, the Building Act 19841and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, after consulting the Building Regulations Advisory Committee and such other bodies as appear to him to be representative of the interests concerned in accordance with section 14(3) of that Act, hereby makes the following Regulations:—
PART I
General
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Building Regulations 2000 and shall come into force on 1st January 2001.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations unless the context otherwise requires—
“the Act” means the Building Act 1984;
“amendment notice” means a notice given under section 51A of the Act;
“building” means any permanent or temporary building but not any other kind of structure or erection, and a reference to a building includes a reference to part of a building;
“building notice” means a notice given in accordance with regulations 12(2)(a) and 13;
“building work” has the meaning given in regulation 3(1);
“controlled service or fitting” means a service or fitting in relation to which Part G, H or J of Schedule 1 imposes a requirement;
“day” means any period of 24 hours commencing at midnight and excludes any Saturday, Sunday, Bank holiday or public holiday;
“dwelling” includes a dwelling-house and a flat;
“dwelling-house” does not include a flat or a building containing a flat;
“energy rating” of a dwelling means a numerical indication of the overall energy efficiency of that dwelling obtained by the application of a procedure approved by the Secretary of State under regulation 16(2) of these Regulations;
“European Technical Approval issuing body” means a body authorised by a member state of the European Economic Area to issue European Technical Approvals (a favourable technical assessment of the fitness for use of a construction product for the purposes of the Construction Products Directive2;
“final certificate” means a certificate given under section 51 of the Act;
“flat” means separate and self-contained premises constructed or adapted for use for residential purposes and forming part of a building from some other part of which it is divided horizontally;
“floor area” means the aggregate area of every floor in a building or extension, calculated by reference to the finished internal faces of the walls enclosing the area, or if at any point there is no such wall, by reference to the outermost edge of the floor;
“fronting” has the meaning given in section 203(3) of the Highways Act 19803;
“full plans” means plans deposited with a local authority for the purposes of section 16 of the Act in accordance with regulations 12(2)(b) and 14;
“height” means the height of the building measured from the mean level of the ground adjoining the outside of the external walls of the building to the level of half the vertical height of the roof of the building, or to the top of the walls or of the parapet, if any, whichever is the higher;
“initial notice” means a notice given under section 47 of the Act;
“institution” means an institution (whether described as a hospital, home, school or other similar establishment) which is used as living accommodation for, or for the treatment, care or maintenance of persons—
(a) suffering from disabilities due to illness or old age or other physical or mental incapacity, or
(b) under the age of five years, where such persons sleep on the premises;
“material alteration” has the meaning given in regulation 3(2);
“material change of use” has the meaning given in regulation 5;
“private street” has the meaning given in section 203(2) of the Highways Act 1980;
“public body’s final certificate” means a certificate given under paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 to the Act;
“public body’s notice” means a notice given under section 54 of the Act;
“shop” includes premises—
(a) used for the sale to members of the public of food or drink for consumption on or off the premises,
(b) used for retail sales by auction to members of the public,
(c) used by members of the public as a barber or hairdresser, or for the hiring of any item, and
(d) where members of the public may take goods for repair or other treatment.
(2) In these Regulations “public building” means a building consisting of or containing—
(a)
(a) a theatre, public library, hall or other place of public resort;
(b)
(b) a school or other educational establishment not exempted from the operation of building regulations by virtue of section 4(1)(a) of the Act; or
(c)
(c) a place of public worship;
but a building is not to be treated as a place of public resort because it is, or it contains, a shop, storehouse or warehouse, or is a dwelling to which members of the public are occasionally admitted.
(3) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation, Part or Schedule is a reference to the regulation, Part or Schedule so numbered in these Regulations.
PART II
CONTROL OF BUILDING WORK
Meaning of building work
3.—(1) In these Regulations “building work” means—
(a)
(a) the erection or extension of a building;
(b)
(b) the provision or extension of a controlled service or fitting in or in connection with a building;
(c)
(c) the material alteration of a building, or a controlled service or fitting, as mentioned in paragraph (2);
(d)
(d) work required by regulation 6 (requirements relating to material change of use);
(e)
(e) the insertion of insulating material into the cavity wall of a building;
(f)
(f) work involving the underpinning of a building.
(2) An alteration is material for the purposes of these Regulations if the work, or any part of it, would at any stage result—
(a)
(a) in a building or controlled service or fitting not complying with a relevant requirement where previously it did; or
(b)
(b) in a building or controlled service or fitting which before the work commenced did not comply with a relevant requirement, being more unsatisfactory in relation to such a requirement.
(3) In paragraph (2) “relevant requirement” means any of the following applicable requirements of Schedule 1, namely—
Part A (structure)
paragraph B1 (means of warning and escape)
paragraph B3 (internal fire spread—structure)
paragraph B4 (external fire spread)
paragraph B5 (access and facilities for the fire service)
Part M (access and facilities for disabled people).
Requirements relating to building work
4.—(1) Building work shall be carried out so that—
(a)
(a) it complies with the applicable requirements contained in Schedule 1; and
(b)
(b) in complying with any such requirement there is no failure to comply with any other such requirement.
(2) Building work shall be carried out so that, after it has been completed—
(a)
(a) any building which is extended or to which a material alteration is made; or
(b)
(b) any building in, or in connection with, which a controlled service or fitting is provided, extended or materially altered; or
(c)
(c) any controlled service or fitting,
complies with the applicable requirements of Schedule 1 or, where it did not comply with any such requirement, is no more unsatisfactory in relation to that requirement than before the work was carried out.
Meaning of material change of use
5. For the purposes of paragraph 8(1)(e) of Schedule 1 to the Act and for the purposes of these Regulations, there is a material change of use where there is a change in the purposes for which or the circumstances in which a building is used, so that after that change—
(a) the building is used as a dwelling, where previously it was not;
(b) the building contains a flat, where previously it did not;
(c) the building is used as an hotel or a boarding house, where previously it was not;
(d) the building is used as an institution, where previously it was not;
(e) the building is used as a public building, where previously it was not;
(f) the building is not a building described in Classes I to VI in Schedule 2, where previously it was; or
(g) the building, which contains at least one dwelling, contains a greater or lesser number of dwellings than it did previously.
Requirements relating to material change of use
6.—(1) Where there is a material change of use of the whole of a building, such work, if any, shall be carried out as is necessary to ensure that the building complies with the applicable requirements of the following paragraphs of Schedule 1—
(a)
(a) in all cases, B1 (means of warning and escape)
B2 (internal fire spread—linings)
B3 (internal fire spread—structure)
B4(2) (external fire spread—roofs)
B5 (access and facilities for the fire service)
F1 and F2 (ventilation)
G1 (sanitary conveniences and washing facilities)
G2 (bathrooms)
H4 (solid waste storage)
J1 to J3 (heat producing appliances)
L1 (conservation of fuel and power);
(b)
(b) in the case of a material change of use described in regulation 5(c), (d), (e) or (f), A1 to A3 (structure);
(c)
(c) in the case of a building exceeding fifteen metres in height, B4(1) (external fire spread—walls);
(d)
(d) in the case of a material change of use described in regulation 5(a), C4 (resistance to weather and ground moisture); and
(e)
(e) in the case of a material change of use described in regulation 5(a), (b) or (g), E1 to E3 (resistance to the passage of sound).
(2) Where there is a material change of use of part only of a building, such work, if any, shall be carried out as is necessary to ensure that—
(a)
(a) that part complies in all cases with...
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