The Building Regulations 2010
| Year | 2010 |
2010 No. 2214
Building And Buildings, England And Wales
The Building Regulations 2010
Made 6th September 2010
Laid before Parliament 9th September 2010
Coming into force 1st October 2010
The Secretary of State is a Minister designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in relation to matters relating to the environment.
In accordance with section 14(3) of the Building Act 19843he has consulted the Building Regulations Advisory Committee and such other bodies as appeared to him to be representative of the interests concerned.
The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 and by sections 1(1), 2A, 3, 5, 8(2) and (6), 34, 35, 47(1) and 126 of, and paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 4A, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of Schedule 1 to, the Building Act 1984:
PART 1
General
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Building Regulations 2010 and shall come into force on 1st October 2010.
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 Act4;
“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);
“change to a building’s energy status” means any change which results in a building becoming a building to which the energy efficiency requirements of these Regulations apply, where previously it was not;
“controlled service or fitting” means a service or fitting in relation to which Part G, H, J, L or P 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;
“electrical installation” means fixed electrical cables or fixed electrical equipment located on the consumer’s side of the electricity supply meter;
“energy efficiency requirements” means the requirements of regulations 23, 26, 28 and 29 and Part L of Schedule 1;
“extra-low voltage” means voltage not exceeding—
(a) in relation to alternating current, 50 volts between conductors and earth; or
(b) in relation to direct current, 120 volts between conductors;
“final certificate” means a certificate given under section 51 of the Act5;
“fixed building services” means any part of, or any controls associated with—
(a) fixed internal or external lighting systems, but does not include emergency escape lighting or specialist process lighting; or
(b) fixed systems for heating, hot water, air conditioning or mechanical ventilation;
“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;
“full plans” means plans deposited with a local authority for the purposes of section 16 of the Act6in 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;
“independent access” means, in relation to a part of a building (including any extension to that building), a route of access to that part which does not require the user to pass through any other part of the building;
“initial notice” means a notice given under section 47 of the Act7;
“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;
“low voltage” means voltage not exceeding—
(a) in relation to alternating current, 1000 volts between conductors or 600 volts between conductors and earth; or
(b) in relation to direct current, 1500 volts between conductors or 900 volts between conductors and earth;
“material alteration” has the meaning given in regulation 3(2);
“material change of use” has the meaning given in regulation 5;
“microgeneration” means the use for the generation of electricity or the production of heat or cooling of any plant (which for this purpose includes any equipment, apparatus or appliance) which, in generating electricity or (as the case may be) producing heat or cooling, relies wholly or mainly on a source of energy or a technology mentioned in section 26(2) of the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 20068;
“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;
“renovation” in relation to a thermal element means the provision of a new layer in the thermal element or the replacement of an existing layer, but excludes decorative finishes, and “renovate” shall be construed accordingly;
“room for residential purposes” means a room, or a suite of rooms, which is not a dwelling-house or a flat and which is used by one or more persons to live and sleep and includes a room in a hostel, an hotel, a boarding house, a hall of residence or a residential home, but does not include a room in a hospital, or other similar establishment, used for patient accommodation;
“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;
“softened wholesome water” means water which would be regarded as wholesome for the purposes of regulations made under section 67 of the Water Industry Act 19919(standards of wholesomeness) as they apply for the purposes of Part G of Schedule 1 in accordance with paragraph (5) but for the presence of sodium in excess of the level specified in those regulations if it is caused by a water softener or water softening process which reduces the concentrations of calcium and magnesium.
(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 Act10; 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) In these Regulations “thermal element” means a wall, floor or roof (but does not include windows, doors, roof windows or roof-lights) which separates a thermally conditioned part of the building (“the conditioned space”) from—
(a)
(a) the external environment (including the ground); or
(b)
(b) in the case of floors and walls, another part of the building which is—
(i) unconditioned;
(ii) an extension falling within class 7 of Schedule 2; or
(iii) where this paragraph applies, conditioned to a different temperature,
and includes all parts of the element between the surface bounding the conditioned space and the external environment or other part of the building as the case may be.
(4) Paragraph (3)(b)(iii) only applies to a building which is not a dwelling, where the other part of the building is used for a purpose which is not similar or identical to the purpose for which the conditioned space is used.
(5) Section 67 of the Water Industry Act 1991 and such regulations as have been made under that section apply for the purposes of Part G of Schedule 1 as they apply for the purposes of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of that Act.
PART 2
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;
(g)
(g) work required by regulation 22 (requirements relating to a change of energy status);
(h)
(h) work required by regulation 23 (requirements relating to thermal elements);
(i)
(i) work required by regulation 28 (consequential improvements to energy performance).
(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...
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