UK Building Regs Explained

They exist for our protection. We have all heard stories about shoddy construction that led to catastrophic collapses of buildings that resulted in tragic losses of life. That's why building regulations UK flavour have been established by the government in pursuit of a greater good. Their purpose is to create minimum standards for residential and commercial structures, primarily for purposes of the health and safety of people either in or around those structures, but also for reasons of access and energy conservation. The builder will note that one set of regulations applies to buildings constructed in England and Wales, while another concerns structures that are built in Scotland. Confused yet?

While citizens cannot be expected to know the minutiae of building regulations in the UK, there are a few basic pieces that must be grasped in order to understand how they work. For example, if you have employed a builder for your project, then that builder has an obligation to perform the work for which you are paying according to established standards of construction. But that circumstance does not relieve you of obligations that are incumbent on the owner. As the owner of the structure that is being assembled, it is you that is ultimately responsible for compliance with the established building regulations, and it is you that may be served with an enforcement notice if the work fails to comply. Some owners confuse compliance with building regulations as being the same as planning permissions, fire precautions, water regulations, or licensing. Not so. They are two different animals entirely, and the owner simply has to know the difference.

Whether or not a particular project requires compliance with building regulations depends on the nature of the project itself. For example, construction of a new building or an addition to an existing structure is an example of work that must comply with building regulations as established in the UK. So, too, is the injection of insulation into a cavity wall, the underpinning of foundations, and any modifications that would either temporarily or permanently affect the compliance of the structure with the regulations. Others, however, are exempt from the regulations, like the building of garages and carports, garden sheds, porches, greenhouses, and summer houses.

The requirements by which building projects should be performed are contained in Schedule 1 of the building regulations and contain 14 separate and distinct parts, ranging from structure and fire prevention techniques to glazing and electrical safety. These set out the "functional requirements" of the structure, or the broad parameters under which the project may be carried out. Not all of them may be applicable to your project, but it is essential that those which do apply are complied with.

Supplementary to the rules and regulations are what are called "Approved Documents", or government-approved means of compliance with building regulations in the UK. If, however, you propose some alternate means of satisfying the provisions, the guidance that is outlined in the Approved Documents will still be the standard that is employed by your building control service in considering whether your plan of proposed work - or your work already in progress - receives approval. Building inspectors generally perform their work in an advisory capacity, offering suggestions on ways in which the work can be performed in compliance with the regulations. However, a process does exist by which non-compliant work can be brought to a halt and the owner taken to magistrate's court for a judgment, which could as much as £5000 for the failure to comply that has occurred, and up to £50 per day for each occurrence.

Feeling surrounded by enough doom and gloom now? Think that your project will be sentenced to the rubbish heap before you even get started? Take heart, my friend, because there is always a silver lining. Even if you receive an enforcement order for breach of the building regs, you generally are given a grace period of up to 28 days to correct the violation. And if you still can't come to an agreement because the work requested cannot be reasonably expected to comply with a regulation because it is too onerous or doesn't apply in your situation, you have the right to appeal to your local authority for the regulation to be waived or relaxed so that your project can be considered to be in compliance. Perhaps it is a generalization, but structures built in a democracy - despite its many layers of bureaucracy and endless streams of paper - just seem to last longer. And difficult though it may be for us to admit it, those very same UK building regulations that govern construction in the UK deserve much of the credit for saving us from our own carelessness and lack of planning.

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