Upcoming building legislation

In April 2018, BSRIA produced a summary of its top ten pieces of forthcoming legislation and guidance affecting buildings:

1. The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for Landlords (MEES)

The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented) Property Regulations 2015 set out Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) for all privately rented properties. A revision to this Regulation requires that privately let properties (new lets and renewals only) have a minimum energy performance rating of E.

This comes into force on 1st April 2018.

2. BREEAM UK New Construction Scheme

BRE published its draft 2018 version of the BREEAM UK New Construction Scheme on non-domestic buildings on 7 March 2018. The revisions to the BREEAM scheme include provision for key areas, such as life cycle assessment, identifying the performance gap, and more.

3. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

This Regulation introduces important changes to the way that personal information can be stored by organisations for online marketing purposes. The EU General Data Protection Regulation was designed to harmonise EU data privacy laws across Europe.

Due to start on 25 May 2018.

4. The Renewable Transport Fuels and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Regulations 2018

Various amendments to existing regulations are proposed, including an obligation for fuel suppliers to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 6% and increasing the number of incentives to use renewable energy.

Due to start on 15 April 2018.

5. Boiler Plus Regulations

The legislation around heating manufacture and installation in the UK is changing. Introduced by BEIS, the new regulation is called 'Boiler Plus' and introduces new energy efficiency rules for heating systems such as a minimum performance level for boilers, improved boiler controls, and extra functionality for combi-boilers.

Came into force on 6 April 2018.

6. The Climate Change Levy (General) (Amendment) Regulations 2018

These regulations amend the Climate Change Levy (General) Regulations 2001. The updates amend the formula used by businesses in the climate change agreement (CCA) scheme to calculate their climate change levy (CCL) relief entitlement, including the reduced rate.

Due to start on 1 April 2019.

7. The Town and Country Planning (Permission in Principle) (Amendment Order 2017)

This Order amends the Town and Country Planning (Permission in Principle) Order 2017, which sets out the procedure when a person wishes to apply to a local planning authority for permission in principle (PiP). The amended Order changes the way local authorities can grant planning permission in principle to speed up housing-led development.

Due to start on 1 June 2018.

8. Wiring Regulations. The 18th edition of the The IET Wiring Regulations.

This is the updated version of the BS 7671 (IET Wiring Regulations, which improves standards for electrical installation in the U.K. Among other things, the wiring systems within buildings will be expected to be adequately supported against their premature collapse in the event of a fire.

Due to be published on 1 July 2018.

9. The National Emission Ceilings Regulations 2018

These Regulations implement the United Kingdom Directive 2016/2284/EU of the European Parliament and the Council relating to national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants.

Due to come into force on 1 July 2018.

10. BIM: Information management standard

In the spring of 2018 updated versions of PAS 1192-2:2013 and PAS 1192-3:2014 will be published. PAS 1192-2 provides a specification for information management for the capital/delivery phase of construction projects using BIM. PAS 1192-3 provides a specification for information management during the operational phase of assets using BIM.

Due to be published in August 2018.

This article was originally published here in April 2018 by BSRIA.

--BSRIA

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