Doc L

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In England and Wales building regulations Part L, and its accompanying Approved Document cover issues relating to the conservation of fuel and power.

New Document L of Building Regulations – effective April 1^st 2002

Suppliers must prove that their windows meet the minimum energy efficiency requirements of U2.0 for wooden and PVC-U frames, and U2.2 for aluminium frames as of April 2002.

Effective 1^st April 2002 – all replacement window insulations in England & Wales will be subject to Building Regulations. This new regulation in particular affects the minimum levels of insulation that replacement windows must have when fitted in your home. Levels of insulation are measured as U values. The lower the U value, the better the insulation level. In future what we may have in the past referred to as “normal” double-glazing i.e. two pieces of glass separated by a spacer bar is very unlikely to conform to building regulations. To get the required level of insulation it’s almost certain some sort of Low E glass (typically Pilkington K) will have to be used. It may also be necessary for the sealed double glazed units to be Gas Filled (usually Argon).

All units produced at Clayton Glass conform to the requirements of Document L (if required), and all carry a BS EN 1279- license certification. Furthermore, we have recently been awarded BS EN 1279-3; one of only 18 companies nationally to achieve this.

With so many replacement windows being installed its been agreed that the industry could adopt a “self assessment” method for administering the many thousands of window installations occurring weekly that will now be subject to building regulations. Basically this means that it will not always be necessary for a building control officer to inspect each installation or for companies to make separate Building Regulations applications.

The Self-Assessment scheme is referred to as F.E.N.S.A – Fenestration Self Assessment Scheme. If your contractor is registered with the FENSA self-certification scheme, that contractor may certify that the work complies with the relevant regulations and you will not need to notify the council.

If the retailer is not a member of a Self-Assessment scheme or the householder is carrying out the work (DIY) then they will be required to pay for the building regulations application – check with your local council for costs. The time taken to obtain approval will depend upon the local authority concerned.

It is very important that all householders recognize the importance of conforming with these new regulations – its very likely that on any future sale of your property you will need to provide proof that you conformed with Doc L.

What about Scotland, Northern Ireland & the Republic of Ireland?

Scotland

Scotland has its own Building Regulations. As far as conservation and fuel & power is concerned, the Scottish equivalent to Part L is Part J. New Part J regulations came into force in Scotland, March 4^th 2002. You should take advice locally as the application of these new regulations is different to England & Wales – placing more responsibility on the building owner.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has its own Building Regulations. Although broadly similar, they do differ in some important ways. In so far as Conservation of Fuel & Power is concerned, the Northern Ireland equivalent to Part L is Part F.

We are not currently aware of any changes to Northern Ireland Building Regulations affecting Part F Conservation of Fuel & Power.

The Republic of Ireland

The Irish Republic’s equivalent to our Part L is also called Part L. This comes into force on July 1^st 2002.

The regulation appears very similar to Part L in the UK except that the elemental method allows 2.2 watts per sq. m Kelvin and conservatories appear to be exempt.

WHY HAVE WE GOT THIS NEW DOC L?

The short answer – is a result of the Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol was signed at the earth summit in Kyoto, which is in Japan. The British government and many other governments signed up to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions to the pre 1990 level. The British government is committed to reduce carbon dioxide to pre 1990 levels by 2010 and to continue to reduce emissions, which cause global warming.

Carbon dioxide is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, that’s coal, gas, oil or similar to make electricity for use by householders or businesses. Motorcars also burn fossil fuels in the form of petroleum, which produces carbon dioxide. The government can achieve its targets by a variety of measures, one is to insulate homes so that the energy required by a home is much reduced, the other is to tighten up on emission controls from motorcars, hence the recent tax changes to company cars and similar. There are a whole range of other efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions including wind power, solar power and a revisiting of nuclear power. The objective is to reduce the amount of carbon based products that are actually burned letting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and to reduce global warming.

Domestic dwellings are said to use 25% of the energy consumed in the UK. Therefore over the last few years the building regulations have had a new section called Section L or Document L and this is titled conservation fuel & power. Every few years Document L is reviewed and the requirements for conservation of fuel & power are increased. Some years ago (4 or 5), the building regulations required all houses to be built with double glazing and limited the window areas in houses. If you wanted large windows, you had to do things like introduce Pilkington K into them. What’s happened recently is that Doc L has been tightened again for buildings and a whole series of changes have been introduced, including cavity wall insulation, loft space insulation, floor insulation etc. Building details generally have changed with the objective of cutting down the energy requirement.