Just under a week left to get a meaningful start on site!
If you got your building in for Building regulations pre June 15th 2022, you only have 10 days to get site sign off that you have started, hey contractors what are you waiting for?
If you have not got to site by the 15th of June have you told your client that you need to go back and resubmit the building regulations to meet the new regulations? You have, please tell me you have…….
The Building Regs ‘transitional period’ – a quick recap:
The transitional arrangements, these onlyapply when the appropriate building notice, full plans application or initial notice was submitted by Wednesday 15th June 2022 and if work has commenced by Wednesday 15th June 2023.
I’ll skip the plans submission bit as we are way past that but the legal evidence for this start on site is :
- Excavation for strip or trench foundations or for pad footings
- Digging out and preparation of ground for raft foundations
- Vibrofloatation (stone columns) piling, boring for piles or pile driving.
And from our understanding of the addendum you will only get the transitional approval if you have started every building, so you can’t dig the foundations for one building under an application for multiple buildings on a site!

If you are not going to make the deadline, talk to your client, design team and check your contracts, as you may be liable for meeting building regs approval under the terms of your contract. In addition, this could be costly, as the NEW F,L,O, & S all have design and material implications which will certainly cause redesign and uplifts in cost.
Overall, the new regulations are a good thing and will promote energy saving, reduce overheating and create better homes, but this will mean additional costs.
Alongside amendments to the Building Regs, five new approved documents are published:
· Approved Document L, volume 1: dwellings;
· Approved Document L, volume 2: buildings other than dwellings;
· Approved Document F, volume 1: dwellings;
· Approved Document F, volume 2: buildings other than dwellings;
plus an entirely new
Approved Document O covering overheating.
Approved Document S Infrastructure for the charging of electric vehicles
Each of the new regulations include higher standards to meet for:
- Thermal performance
- Air tightness
- Energy losses
- Heat gains
- Energy generation
- Calculation and testing methodologies
All of the above will slow down the design process requiring additional front-end work (cost), additional testing, witnessing and inspections during the build process.
This is for good reason, as they are also all good things for the planet. However, if you have a building that is not going to make the June 15th deadline, we would suggest you review the new documents as these could have a significant impact on the design and construction methodology.
If you are designing a new building please do get in touch, we play nicely with others and love helping other practices get their concepts through compliance to detailed designs, out to tender and on to site, as well as developing our own projects from concept stage. Compliance and detailing may not be sexy but it’s what makes buildings work.