Full transcript
0:00Thank you all very much for joining. Um,
0:02welcome to today's webinar Wednesday.
0:04Today we're looking at a guide to
0:06regulations, codes, and standards with
0:08Hal Davis, head of technical insight
0:11here at CABE. My name is Lauren. I'm the
0:14publications and communications lead
0:16here at CAB, and I'll be moderating
0:18today's session.
0:20Cape strives to create interactive
0:22webinars and if you are watching us live
0:25you can use the Q&A function on your
0:27screens there to submit questions which
0:30will be addressed at the end of the
0:31session. We'll try to get through as
0:33many as possible but if we run out of
0:35time we will collect up the questions
0:37and reply to them in due course. You can
0:40also contact us at webinars@cbuilde.com.
0:47Let me introduce today's presenter. How
0:50Davis is an independent expert in
0:52building safety regulation and building
0:54performance and is head of technical
0:57insight here at CABE. In recent years,
0:59his work has focused particularly on
1:02building regulations and building safety
1:04reform, construction product testing,
1:07certification and regulation. How has
1:10also worked extensively on ventilation
1:12and health risks in buildings and on net
1:14zero buildings. He's been closely
1:17involved in the development of the new
1:19building safety regime and its practical
1:22implementation leading the working group
1:24that developed the recent CLC guidance
1:26on the golden thread. So now I'm going
1:29to hand over to Hal to begin the
1:31presentation. Do just bear with me a
1:33moment uh and we'll we'll get hand it
1:35over to Hal.
1:38Thank you very much, Lauren. And all
1:41being
1:43well, you should
1:45now see some
1:49slides. Thank you very much for joining
1:51us. Um, what I want to do this morning
1:54is to go through uh the the subject of
1:58regulations, codes, standards, and
2:01guidance.
2:03um to talk a little bit about what each
2:05of them is and perhaps
2:10and perhaps in some cases what they
2:12aren't.
2:14Um now it would be better if I do the
2:18talking initially and if everybody else
2:20goes on mute
2:22please. Um there we are. I think that's
2:25lost the background noise. So, I'm going
2:28to talk about those various um they're
2:32generally documents um and what they are
2:35in some cases what they aren't and where
2:37they come from and how they're created.
2:40And broadly, I'm going to go through uh
2:43five different uh areas. I'm going to
2:46give a little bit of background first
2:48and then I'm going to look at primary
2:49legislation, that's acts of parliament.
2:52secondary legislation that's generally
2:54regulations, building regulations or
2:57higher risk building regulations. Um,
3:00also known as statutory instruments. Um,
3:03I'm then going to talk about something
3:05called statutory guidance, possibly
3:07better known to you as approved
3:09documents or if you're in Scotland,
3:12technical handbooks. Um, and then I'm
3:14going to talk a little bit about
3:16standards, and I mean national,
3:18European, and international standards
3:20there. And then finally talk a bit about
3:23industry guidance. And what I want to
3:26try and do is give a reasonable um
3:30overview of the landscape all the way
3:33through from acts of parliament through
3:36to industry guidance. What are they? How
3:39do they interact? Which ones do I use
3:42where? which ones take priority over
3:45others. Uh and and how can I put all of
3:49this to good use? Um or if you're a
3:52building inspector, um just a refresher
3:56on how you might explain this to people
3:58in the industry who may be confused. And
4:01I'll come back to to that issue of
4:03confusion in a slide or two.
4:09So in England and Wales, we have uh a
4:13system set up under the 1984 building
4:16act which moved us away from
4:19prescriptive regulations
4:21um to a system of functional regulation.
4:25And one of the justifications for this
4:27was to allow greater innovation. Uh I'm
4:30going to try and resist the temptation
4:32to comment on where that might have got
4:34us over the last 40 years. Uh I think
4:36that's the subject for another webinar.
4:39Um but um at the same time, government
4:42increased the level of competition
4:44between public sector and private sector
4:46building control bodies. Um and the
4:48justification for that back in the mid1
4:501980s was to improve quality of service
4:53delivery. Now what did that mean in
4:56practice? It meant that we have
4:59functional requirements that are set out
5:01in the building
5:03regulations that are quite um brief and
5:07tell us what we have to achieve. So we
5:10deal with energy efficiency in part L um
5:14by saying that buildings uh must be
5:18designed and built so as to conserve
5:21fuel and power. How do you do that?
5:24Well, we'll see a little bit more of the
5:26detail, but there's lots of guidance on
5:28what that might look like. But the
5:31ultimate requirement is to comply with
5:33the functional requirement. Part B,
5:36dealing with fire um tells us that we
5:39must build buildings um that have
5:42appropriate means of escape in case of
5:45fire. That's the functional requirement.
5:47Can you get people out in the case of a
5:49fire? There's another functional
5:51requirement. Can the fire brigade get
5:53access to the building in the case of
5:55fire? And they are one or two sentence
5:58requirement that are in the building
6:00regulations as we know and we'll talk
6:03about this a little bit more. There's
6:04then lots of guidance about how you
6:06achieve that. But what's the standing of
6:08that guidance? Where does it fit in with
6:10the regulations? Well, I I hope we'll
6:12we'll have refreshed our memories or or
6:15perhaps
6:16um learned something um by the time we
6:19finish.
6:21Um we we now have um well since 1984
6:27we've had competition within the
6:29building control sector with local
6:31authorities approved inspectors and for
6:34certain tasks we've had uh what are
6:37termed competent persons schemes
6:40although we could possibly have a debate
6:42about each of the word well certainly
6:44the first two words in that title. um
6:46and they are allowed to deal with
6:49certain um common high frequency
6:54uh supposed to be lowrisk works and
6:57clients had a degree of choice as to who
6:59they went to. Now I hope there's nobody
7:01on the call who isn't aware that there
7:03is now a fourth um player uh in this
7:07called the building safety regulator who
7:10is the building control body for any
7:12higher risk building. Um, and that's
7:15because the Building Safety Act says
7:18so. Um, and I'm not going to rehearse
7:21this. We've had um deregulation uh in
7:25various forms over the last 40 years uh
7:28that have got us to to where we are. So
7:31that's the system of regulation. In
7:33Scotland, it is a little different.
7:35Scotland has the uh the Building
7:38Scotland Act. Uh building control is
7:41exercised by local authorities. Uh and
7:44Scotland has um building standards and
7:47technical handbooks where we have
7:50building regulations and uh and approved
7:53documents. But I'll I'll come back to to
7:56those differences. Also worth saying
7:58that in 1984 we didn't have a Welsh
8:01assembly. We didn't have a Scottish
8:03government either. um we didn't have
8:06devolution and that of course all
8:08changed 25 years ago and building
8:11regulations are now devolved uh not only
8:15they were always devolved to Scotland uh
8:18but um they're now devolved to Wales and
8:22so although the building act applies to
8:24England and Wales it is implemented
8:27separately in Wales by the Senith uh the
8:30Welsh government so that's a little bit
8:33of background found. We have um we have
8:36therefore a a whole collection of uh of
8:41things to to to think about. We have the
8:45law and I'm going to uh detail that a
8:48little bit more in a minute. We have
8:51statutory guidance
8:54uh known known as approved documents. We
8:57have national and international
8:58standards and we have industry guidance
9:00and standards. And I've put them into
9:02that pyramid because um first of all
9:06there is a hierarchy. The law is the
9:08law. That's what we have to do. And the
9:11rest of it helps us to meet our legal
9:14obligations. But um statutory guidance
9:18has a higher standing certainly will
9:20have a higher standing uh in a court
9:23than national and international
9:25standards or industry guidance or um
9:28industry standards. And I'll
9:29differentiate between those terms a
9:31little
9:33later. Uh now the building act is the
9:37primary piece of legislation governing
9:41building
9:42regulations. Um that's not to say that
9:45it's more important than the building
9:46safety act. The building safety act is a
9:48very very significant piece of
9:50legislation. Um but we when it comes to
9:53building regulations, it's section one
9:55of the building act which is up on the
9:57screen. um I hope is not complete news
10:00to to you. Um that is that is the
10:04section of the building act that gives
10:06the government the power to make
10:08building
10:09regulations and it tells us what they
10:12can make building regulations to cover.
10:15So health, safety, welfare, convenience
10:18of persons in or about buildings and of
10:20others who may be affected by buildings
10:22or matters connected with buildings. So
10:25that's people living in a building,
10:26people going to work in a building,
10:28people going to shop or relax or be
10:30treated or be educated or go to borrow a
10:34book. Um it's all those things. Um it's
10:38people walking around buildings because
10:41actually building regulations can deal
10:44with the fact that we don't want things
10:45falling off buildings. Um, it also deals
10:48with emergency services, responding to
10:51calls, and I don't just mean fires, but
10:53any other kind of emergency in a
10:55building. They're all covered. Um,
10:57conservation of fuel and power. Um, for
11:00some reason it was written that way and
11:02not energy efficiency many years ago and
11:04it's never been changed. Um, preventing
11:07waste, undue consumption, misuse or
11:09contamination of water. It's very
11:11important. So, that gives us parts G and
11:14H. um furthering the protection or
11:17enhancement of the environment. Um now
11:21that perhaps covers some parts of part L
11:24um because part L deals with operational
11:28carbon emissions. There's been quite a
11:30live argument for several years. Uh
11:32there is an industry group who have made
11:35some proposals that we ought to have a
11:39part of the building regs dealing with
11:41embodied carbon. Uh, and you know,
11:44somebody might say, "Oh, we can't put
11:45that in building rates." Well, I think
11:48dealing with embodied carbon quite
11:50clearly sits under furthering the
11:52protection or enhancement of the
11:53environment. So, I think the building
11:56act gives the powers to do it. Clearly,
11:59there's a debate to be had. There's a
12:00political decision to be made, but I
12:02think it could be done. Facilitating
12:04sustainable development, there's a a
12:06wide ranging and furthering the
12:08prevention or detection of crime. So
12:10they're all things about which building
12:12regulations can be made. Uh and the bit
12:15at the bottom says it's done through a
12:18statutory instrument. Hold that thought
12:20for a minute
12:23please. Um now important to remember
12:26that uh back in 2017 after the Grimful
12:29Tower tragedy uh Dame Judith Hackit was
12:32appointed to carry out an independent
12:34review of building regulations and fire
12:36safety. She reported in 2018 as she put
12:39it at a recent uh event. Um she worked
12:42at PACE. I think she might have been
12:45suggesting that some others haven't been
12:47but we'll park that for now. And Dame
12:50Judith identified four key issues
12:52underpinning the systemic failure that
12:55she
12:56identified. Um the first ignorance and
12:59misunderstanding of regulations and
13:01guidance. So actually if you if you want
13:03to know why why are we running this
13:05webinar in order to try and help people
13:08to be more knowledgeable and to
13:09understand regulations and guidance
13:12better not suggesting that people don't
13:14understand them but I think we can
13:16always improve our understanding um she
13:19identified indifference to quality and
13:21safety and focus on speed and cost
13:24perhaps part of the indifference to
13:25safety was indifference to complying
13:27with the regs a lack of clarity on roles
13:30and responsibility ities and
13:32accountability. I'm not going to touch
13:34on that much, but um some of the uh new
13:37requirements around duty holders, the
13:40new section 2A that's been inserted into
13:43the building regulations, uh that very
13:45much addresses that. And just as a quick
13:47aside, um I'm told that one of the
13:51schemes that handles um
13:53pre-qualification questionnaires for the
13:55for the industry uh recently sent out to
13:59about
14:0021,000 organizations a request for them
14:04to update their information uh in the
14:07light of the building safety act. Um I
14:10am I am told that 85% of respondents
14:15responded with the following answer. Uh
14:18we don't need to do anything. The
14:20building safety act doesn't apply to us.
14:24So, those of you in building control,
14:27you may well be facing an awful lot of
14:29people who simply don't recognize that
14:32the building safety act and part 2A of
14:35the building regs has imposed some new
14:37duties on them, which certainly do apply
14:40if they're undertaking regulated
14:42building
14:43work. And Dame Judith also picked up on
14:46regulatory oversight. Um, and that's
14:49reflected in some of the things I'm
14:51going to say today. The the big one I
14:53want to tackle is um is to improve our
14:56understanding of regulations and
14:58guidance. And um it's worth noting that
15:00the Granful Inquiry report um was quite
15:04uh blunt. Government should have known
15:06that the guidance in the approved
15:08documents was not well understood and
15:10should have amended it to be clearer.
15:12I'm not going to go into that in any
15:14more detail, but worth bearing in mind.
15:18Um so starting at the top of the pyramid
15:21with the law primary legislation
15:24otherwise known as acts of parliament
15:27and I've talked about the building act.
15:29The other really important one is the
15:31building safety act. Now there are
15:34there's a key similarity and a key
15:37difference. There are two two key
15:39similarities. They're both acts of
15:41parliament. They're the law of the land.
15:43They are what people have to do whether
15:45they like it or not, whether we like it
15:48or not, it's what the law says. Um and
15:52um both of both of these um apply to any
15:57regulated building work. Um they create
16:00the powers through which regulated
16:03building work is defined. Um and it's
16:06worth noting that the building act
16:08underwent some substantial amendment
16:12uh by virtue of provisions mainly in
16:15part three of the building safety act.
16:18Um if anybody
16:20is is is wanting to know more about
16:23what's changed in the building act the
16:26best way to get it up toate legislation
16:29whether it's acts or
16:31regulations go to the legislation.gov
16:34gov website. Put in the title of the
16:37piece of legislation you want to look at
16:40and it will bring up for you on screen
16:43the upto-date version with all
16:46amendments included and they're all
16:49tracked so that you can see when the
16:51amendment was made. You can check when
16:54it came into force. And if you're if
16:56you're checking up on on historical
16:59things and you want to know did they
17:01comply with the regulations in place at
17:03the time that allows you to do it. There
17:06is also a feature there that allows you
17:08to download the latest version um as a
17:12PDF. You can either save it on your lap
17:17laptop, your phone, your tablet. You can
17:20even print it off if if that's helpful.
17:22Um and that's that is the best way to
17:25have the most upto-date version of the
17:28acts and indeed of the
17:30regulations. Um the key difference
17:33between the building act and building
17:34safety act is that the building act was
17:36quite prescriptive. Uh there was a lot
17:38in the building act that frankly by the
17:41time of Grenful had got a bit out of
17:43date and officials knew it was a bit out
17:46of date but there was no real interest
17:49in in building regs and certainly no
17:51interest in giving parliamentary time to
17:54updating the building act. Um that of
17:56course all changed overnight on the 17th
17:59of June 2017 when 72 um entirely
18:04innocent uh people died needlessly uh in
18:07the fire. And suddenly there was a huge
18:10amount of interest in legislation in the
18:12building regulations arena. And the
18:15lesson learned from that in the building
18:17safety act is that the building safety
18:19act is largely enabling legislation. It
18:22gives government
18:24powers but many of them are exercised
18:27through
18:28regulations. Um, of which there are
18:31many. I accept that. But the the
18:34advantage of that approach is that the
18:37regulations can be updated when
18:40necessary without the need for going
18:42back to the primary legislation. And
18:45that should allow the new regime to um
18:48be kept up to date more effectively uh
18:51than was the case under the building
18:53act. So that's primary
18:55legislation. It's the basis of the whole
18:58regime. Uh and sometimes um you may need
19:01to go and look in the primary
19:03legislation to see what the what the
19:06powers are that are in there. But I
19:08think we spend an awful lot more of our
19:10time looking at secondary legislation or
19:14regulations
19:15uh or they are strictly statutory
19:19instruments. So they are statute law uh
19:23and um and the term is statutory
19:26instruments. These are they're made in
19:29parliament
19:31uh but um they don't go through the same
19:36uh detailed process uh as primary
19:39legislation. Um some of them are laid in
19:43parliament and if no MP objects and
19:48seeks a vote within usually 21 days uh
19:52then they automatically come in to
19:55force. Um some of them are subject to
19:58what's called the affirmative uh
20:00resolution procedure which means that um
20:04houses of parliament uh parliament has
20:07to vote on them but they get a debate
20:09they get a vote and it's a yes no vote.
20:12They can't go through making changes. It
20:15is very uncommon. In fact, it goes back
20:18to 1978, I believe, that the last time
20:23uh a a a statutory instrument uh was
20:26voted down in in the house. Um so that's
20:31how statutory instruments come in.
20:32They're developed by the relevant
20:34department and they're placed in front
20:36of parliament. Um and we have uh you
20:39know we have a number. So we have the
20:41fire safety act, we have the building
20:43safety act, we have the building act and
20:45the fire safety act gives powers to make
20:48the fire safety England regulations nu
20:522022. The u building safety act
20:57um allows um certain things to be put
21:03into the building ranks. The building
21:04act is the primary enabler of the
21:07building ranks as we've seen and that
21:09gives us the building regulations 2010
21:12as amended over 20 times now since 2010
21:16and we'll see the most recent in a
21:18minute and also the building safety act
21:20enables the buildings higher risk
21:22buildings procedures England regulations
21:25that's what governs the gateway process
21:28and in interestingly it's that set of
21:30that set of regulations is the law of
21:33the hand. So if there are things in
21:36those regulations that prove to be a bit
21:39inconvenient, it's not open to the
21:42building safety regulator or MHCLG to
21:45say, "Ah, it's a bit inconvenient. We'll
21:47ignore that." Um, that's what Parliament
21:50has said is to be done. That's what the
21:51law says. And until the laws changed,
21:54that's what the process has to look
21:55like.
21:58Um the other thing that we need to be
22:00aware of the building regulations etc
22:03amendment England regs
22:062023. This is the most recent set of
22:10amendments. It brings in the new um
22:13applications procedure for
22:15non-HRBs and it also brings in part 2A
22:19the the duty holder section um covering
22:23competence.
22:25Um there's a whole lot of secondary
22:27legislation for higher risk buildings.
22:30Um and very briefly, and you'll have the
22:34detail of these slides available
22:36afterwards. Um how do we measure them?
22:38Do we have to register them? If we do,
22:41how do we do it? And what information do
22:42we provide? What further information do
22:45we need to provide within 28 days? What
22:47do we need to put in the golden thread
22:50and give to uh various bodies including
22:53by the way residents? Residents have a
22:56right to the information about the HRB
22:58that they live in. Um and um and then
23:03there's the final set which is um how to
23:06deal with safety cases and safety case
23:09reports. Um and that's on an ongoing
23:12basis. Um, again, not the topic for
23:14today, but that's all dealt with by
23:16secondary
23:18legislation. Also worth noting that
23:20tucked away in the Building Safety Act
23:22in part five, there are powers given to
23:26the Secretary of State to regulate
23:28construction products for the whole of
23:30the UK. Construction product regulation
23:32is not devolved. It's
23:36UKwide. Um, and these powers have
23:39already been used.
23:41Um, in
23:462022, the Office of Product Safety and
23:49Standards issued a prohibition, actually
23:52a series of prohibition notices against
23:55a reasonably well-known manufacturer.
23:57Um, if you go and Google um, OPSS
24:02prohibition notices, you will find what
24:05I'm talking about. And the act also um
24:09creates the enabling powers to require
24:12construction products to be safe and to
24:14create a statutory list of um constru of
24:17safety critical construction products.
24:20How we define safety critical
24:21construction products is another matter
24:24which I'm not going to touch today. It's
24:26not straightforward. Um and the act also
24:29covers um building liability orders. I'm
24:32not going to go into that today, but
24:34that's all primary legislation.
24:36um for construction products and we can
24:39anticipate new regulations for
24:41construction products in due course. Um
24:44there is a consultation on construction
24:46product reform that closes later today.
24:50So they're the regulations and we have
24:53uh we have the building regulations and
24:56a key part of the building regulations
24:58is schedule one and within schedule one
25:02we have parts A all the way through to T
25:05now and we'll see part T in a bit more
25:07detail in a minute. Um they are the
25:10different parts of that schedule and
25:12they set out the functional
25:14requirements. So the functional
25:16requirements are written into the
25:18secondary legislation. The functional
25:20requirements are law. The functional
25:22requirements are what we have to
25:24do. Now this is where Dame Judith's
25:28confusion perhaps begins to creep in
25:31because we also have statutory guidance
25:34known as approved documents. Here's an
25:37example. Part
25:38L2A for uh
25:41for uh for England. Um, as I say,
25:46building rags are devolved. So, there is
25:48the Welsh version. Um, I sometimes
25:51mischievously use one that has part
25:54doublela. Um, but somebody took me
25:57seriously on that once and asked for a
25:59copy and I thought, "Oh dear." Um, I'd
26:01better keep that to an oral joke and not
26:04a written one. Um, and then of course we
26:06have Scotland which has building
26:09standards and technical handbooks. Um
26:13now the standards set out what has to be
26:15done and the handbooks are guidance. So
26:18if Scottish um listeners would bear with
26:21me I will focus more on the system in
26:25England and Wales uh I hope you'll you
26:28you'll bear with me. For approved
26:30document you read technical handbook.
26:32For regulation you read building
26:37standards. Um we have various other
26:41parts. We have part uh uh part F dealing
26:45with ventilation, part L, part O came in
26:48in the recent um update covering
26:50overheating of domestic premises. We
26:53have part S infrastructure for charging.
26:56Now these are all approved documents and
26:59they give guidance.
27:03Uh I mentioned the newest building
27:05regulation which is part T of the
27:08regulations which makes uh it a
27:10requirement to provide single sex toilet
27:13provision in non-residential premises.
27:16There's the approved document and there
27:19are the building amendment England
27:21regulations from last year that
27:24implement this
27:26amendment to schedule one of the
27:29building rags inserting part T. Um and
27:33as I say it's all about specific toilet
27:37provision. Um now worth dwelling on this
27:40for a minute. What have we got here?
27:42We've got a regulation in the middle of
27:45the screen that says you must by law
27:48make um specific types of toilet
27:51provision available um in uh buildings
27:55other than dwellings. That's what the
27:56law says. And then on the left we have
28:00um the familiar site of an approved
28:02document which provides some guidance.
28:06Now I'm going to go back to the building
28:09act for a
28:11minute. Building act um it makes
28:14explicit provision in section six for
28:18the approval of documents for purposes
28:20of building regulations. So there's the
28:23statutory basis for the term approved
28:25documents. It's in section six of
28:27building act and I'm not going to read
28:30it word for word because you can read it
28:32on screen faster than I can read it out.
28:35But those are the purposes of approved
28:38documents. They're to provide practical
28:41guidance and they can be issued by um
28:47the appropriate national authority or
28:50body concerned. So that's the government
28:55department. Um, it's worth noting that
28:58there is provision in there for other
29:02bodies to create approved documents.
29:06Now, they still have to be approved by
29:08the Secretary of State. Um, and when it
29:10comes to building regs, that means the
29:12Secretary of State generally acting on
29:14advice from um
29:17officials. Uh, but approved documents
29:20don't have to be produced by government.
29:22It's just that they always have. And
29:26um so that's where we get approved
29:28documents from. What are they now? Um
29:33those familiar with approved documents
29:36will recognize that this is text copied
29:40and pasted from the front of an approved
29:44document. Which one? Actually any of
29:47them because this is common text across
29:50the whole set of approved documents. So,
29:53they're approved by the Secretary of
29:54State to give practical guidance on
29:58common building situations about how to
30:01meet building rates. And there's
30:04different a approved document, sometimes
30:07known as
30:08ADS, covering the different technical
30:10parts of the regulations. And each
30:12approved documents, each approved
30:14document contains a list of all the
30:17approved documents uh that that are
30:19available from A to T.
30:23Um, and in addition to guidance, some
30:27approved
30:29documents include provisions that must
30:32be followed
30:34exactly because they're required by
30:37regulations or where um certain methods
30:40of test or calculation are approved by
30:43the Secretary of State. So, part L
30:46requires certain calculations around
30:48carbon emissions. there's an approved
30:50calculation
30:52method. Um, you want to do an air
30:55tightness test on a on a dwelling,
30:58there's an approved test method and it's
31:01detailed in the approved document. Um,
31:05there are certain tasks that have to be
31:07carried out. Um, and those of you who
31:11know my background, please excuse me
31:13exercising my favorite hobby course.
31:16Commissioning of building
31:19services. You've got all this kit in the
31:22building. Who's actually going to get it
31:24started up and make sure it works
31:26properly and it does what it's there to
31:29do in an energyefficient way as required
31:32by Partell. Well, that involves a
31:35process of setting it all up to work and
31:38then commissioning it to work
31:40efficiently.
31:42Commissioning and it's been in the
31:44building rags for many years that
31:46building services systems should be
31:48commissioned and there should be
31:49evidence that they've been
31:52commissioned. How much it's been done?
31:55Well, I think we all know the answer to
31:57that. Has anybody ever been prosecuted
32:00for not commissioning building services
32:02systems? I don't believe they have. But
32:05actually, if we want buildings to work
32:07effectively and be energy efficient,
32:10then the building services need to be
32:12commissioned. And that is a requirement
32:14of regulation 44. It's not, oh, the
32:17secretary of state thinks it would be a
32:19nice thing. No, the secretary of state
32:21has regulated for commissioning. It's a
32:24requirement. There's guidance in the
32:26approved document, but one of the things
32:28the guidance says is that you should
32:31have a commissioning management process
32:34and you should follow recognized
32:36guidance and we'll see that in a few
32:39minutes what that recognized guidance
32:40might look
32:41like. Um, but there are a number of
32:44things like that that are meant to
32:46happen. And if I may dare to offer a
32:50word of advice to those of you who are
32:52building
32:53inspectors, you might feel a bit
32:56intimidated challenging hairy building
32:59services engineers about
33:02commissioning. Well, don't be because
33:05the ones that have done it properly are
33:08likely to have the evidence and be able
33:10to show it to you. And the ones that
33:12haven't done it properly, you don't
33:14actually need to know any more than that
33:16they haven't done it properly and that
33:18you're not going to give them a
33:20certificate until they have done it
33:22properly and they offer you some
33:24evidence that they've done it properly.
33:26And I suspect that it only needs to
33:28start happening on a few projects and
33:30word will get around the industry. Oh,
33:32these building inspectors are starting
33:34to ask for evidence of commissioning.
33:35You better watch out. It's just a
33:38thought. Um, and somebody might want to
33:41challenge me on that in the in the
33:42question and answer session at the
33:45end. How do you comply with the building
33:48regulations? Well, you have to meet the
33:50relevant requirements, schedule one
33:53functional requirements, the law. Um,
33:56and you may have to follow certain
33:58processes and meet technical performance
34:00requirements. Um, the approved documents
34:03set out what is one way to comply with
34:06the building ranks.
34:08But again, and this is text from the
34:10approved documents. It's not Howell
34:12making it
34:13up. It's what the guidance says.
34:16Complying with the guidance doesn't
34:18guarantee that building work
34:20complies. They don't cover all
34:23circumstances. And there may be other
34:25ways to comply. My favorite example of
34:28this is the Eden project down in
34:30Cornwall. Um, and we're going back
34:32nearly 30 years now. In order to provide
34:35adequate means of escape, according to
34:37the approved documents, it would have
34:39required tunneling into the rock um at
34:42the back of the
34:44quarry. tunneling wasn't
34:47viable. And so they did some
34:50calculations about how quickly smoke
34:52would be generated and spread and what
34:55the escape times were and were able to
34:58demonstrate that escape routes through
35:01the vegetation to escape doors would
35:05meet the functional requirement by a
35:08method other than what was in the
35:09approved document. and that was accepted
35:12and the Eden project was built and all
35:16all went smoothly. So that's quite
35:19important about the um the approved
35:21documents. You don't have to do the do
35:24it that way. I have heard stories that
35:27in some instances more recently
35:30inspectors have insisted that people
35:32follow the approved document. Um, I'm
35:35not convinced that the law allows an
35:38inspector to insist that you follow the
35:40approved document. They can and they
35:42should insist that you provide evidence
35:45that your alternative meets the
35:47functional
35:49requirement. Now, I'm going to go very
35:52quickly through the next couple of bits.
35:54Um, we we will be making the slides
35:56available afterwards and there's some
35:58detail here for homework for those uh
36:00who wish to. Um the public inquiry was
36:03quite critical about approved document B
36:06unclear not properly understood by a
36:08significant proportion of those working
36:10in the construction industry and I won't
36:12go through the detail but the slide is
36:14there these are some of the things which
36:16the inquiry was concerned
36:21about moving on standards whether
36:24they're British European or
36:26international
36:27um where do they fit into all this um
36:30well first of All standards are prepared
36:33by national and international standards
36:35bodies in the UK. That's the British
36:37Standards Institution which has a formal
36:40memorandum of understanding with the
36:42government to act as the UK's national
36:44standards body and as such it's a member
36:46of the international standardization
36:49organization ISO the international
36:51electrottechnical commission IEC and
36:54also the um European standards bodies
36:58sen and senile.
37:00It's really important to stress
37:02particularly in the current climate sen
37:05and senile are a federation of standards
37:10bodies. They are not an organ of the
37:12European Union. I'm offering that as a
37:15factual statement um and not for
37:18anything else. BSI is a member of both
37:21of them and as a condition of being a
37:25member, BSI is obliged to adopt all the
37:30frameworks that Sen and Sench develop
37:34and um and publish. We don't have a
37:37choice.
37:39So if there is a European standard on
37:41something, BSI has to adopt it and
37:45withdraw any conflicting standards.
37:48Uh those are the rules of the game. I
37:51guess we're all reasonably familiar with
37:53British standards. Here's one about um
37:56BIM building information management um
37:59which came out a few years ago. This
38:03this is a a a standard sort of thing. Um
38:06there's another one that came out more
38:08recently on digital management of fire
38:10safety information.
38:12The important the other important thing
38:14to say is that um there is some
38:18controversy about the cost and
38:20accessibility of standards. Uh those of
38:22you who are CABE members who work in
38:25smaller businesses with a turnover I
38:29think it's below about
38:31650,000 and fewer than 10 employees. Um,
38:35the association has negotiated an
38:38arrangement with BSI that gives you
38:41access to a very wide range of of built
38:44environment standards for a very
38:48reasonable fee of a few hundred pounds.
38:51Uh, and I believe information has on
38:54that has been in the um in building
38:57engineer the association magazine and I
38:59think there was a small piece in the
39:01most recent issue uh by a member up in
39:05the the Northwest um explaining how the
39:08use of this um facility has already
39:11saved him many many hours and um stopped
39:15a number of arguments on site because
39:18he's been able to get his tablet out,
39:20get the standard out, say to people,
39:21this is what the standard says, this is
39:23what we're going to do. Oh, okay. End of
39:26argument. So, I do commend that
39:28arrangement to you. Um, it could be very
39:31valuable. Now, standards are often cited
39:34in the approved documents and where an
39:37approved document says this is a way to
39:39do it, well, this is a way to do it. Um,
39:43and there may be an alternative, but it
39:46would be a good idea to look at what the
39:48standard says. Um, national standards um
39:51have have a certain standing in law. Um,
39:55I if if there is a standard and you end
39:58up in court explaining what you did and
40:00you didn't follow the standard, you are
40:03going to need to explain why you thought
40:06it was reasonable skill and care to do
40:08it another way and not follow the
40:11standard. Moving into the last
40:14u half dozen
40:16slides, sitting underneath all of that
40:19are things that are industry standards
40:22and guidance. So um Lauren made a
40:25reference to the golden thread guidance
40:27in the introduction and that was
40:29produced um by the construction
40:32leadership council working with input
40:34from the building safety regulator from
40:37well it changed its name in the middle
40:39of the process. It's now the MHCLG and
40:41we had the Department of Business and
40:43Trade involved but it was written by
40:45industry experts for the industry um to
40:50give people guidance. Now um it it
40:54doesn't uh it it doesn't have the same
40:56standing as other standards but if there
40:59isn't anything else covering it then
41:01following that is likely to be deemed
41:03reasonable skill and care. Um I
41:06mentioned commissioning management
41:08earlier and the CIBSE Chartered
41:11Institution of Building Services
41:12Engineers provides guidance on
41:13commissioning management which is
41:16actually referenced in the building
41:18regulations as a way to um to follow the
41:22guidance and there are other documents
41:25like that. Both the standards and the
41:27industry documents are also listed in
41:30the back of every AD.
41:32Worth noting that there is something
41:34called the code for construction product
41:36information. It's an entirely voluntary
41:39scheme for manufacturers to demonstrate
41:42that the information they provide is
41:45legal, decent, honest, and truthful to
41:47pinch a phrase. Set up by the CPA, but
41:50now operated independently by a third
41:52party. The crunch here is this is what
41:56government has said about the
41:59CCPI in the green paper on construction
42:03products. I'm going to paraphrase.
42:06Government likes it and wants more
42:07people to sign up. What's that got to do
42:10with this? Well, those that are signed
42:13up to the
42:14CCPI, you're going to be able to put
42:17more reliance on the information that
42:19they produce about their products. So it
42:22is a form of industry guidance. Now I've
42:25taken you very quickly through the law,
42:29the approved documents, um the national
42:32and international standards and the
42:34industry guidance. Um what what there is
42:37I hope you can see the hierarchy um you
42:40know what what's the top priority the
42:42top priority is the functional
42:44requirements in the building regs. Um
42:47but there are all these various tools to
42:49help you. There are all these various
42:50tools to help the people whose work you
42:53might be inspecting where you might want
42:56to ask them, you know, why have you done
42:59that? Um, or you know, how can you
43:02demonstrate to me that what you've done
43:04complies with with with the functional
43:06requirement. I hope that's helpful. And
43:08I'm going to stop sharing so that I can
43:10actually see what's in the um Q&A
43:15section. Uh, and
43:20We'll we'll take some
43:22questions. Ah, now I won't embarrass
43:26him, but there is a name that I
43:27recognize.
43:30Um, and first one up. Yes. If somebody
43:34doesn't follow the
43:38um the approved documents then they need
43:43to
43:44demonstrate that what they have done
43:48satisfies the functional requirements.
43:52So if the approved
43:54document indicates that a way to comply
43:57is to do a certain thing and an
44:01alternative doesn't do that certain
44:03thing, I think you've got reasonable
44:06grounds to say I don't think that
44:08alternative
44:10um actually meets the requirement.
44:14Um, and going back to my Eden uh project
44:18example, you know, the functional
44:20requirement was we've got to get people
44:22out in a realistic time so that there is
44:27no danger to life in the event of a fire
44:29within the biome. And careful
44:32calculations were done to and modeling
44:36to show this is how we anticipate that a
44:39fire in a biome would would develop.
44:42This is how the smoke would develop.
44:44This is the point at which the the
44:47ground escape level would become
44:49unusable and that would take much longer
44:53than to evacuate everybody through the
44:55escape routes that are being proposed.
44:58So I I hope I hope that you can see that
45:04was demonstrating that we meet the
45:06requirement to get people out. Oh, and
45:08by the way, it allows the brigade to get
45:10in as well.
45:12uh by a different means to to the AD. So
45:17the onus on people not following the AD
45:21is very much to demonstrate that they
45:23are meeting the functional requirement
45:28um and and therefore complying with the
45:34law. Uh I'm going to move on to the
45:36second question and interestingly the
45:39questions are coming up in reverse time
45:41order. Um the building act 1984 has
45:45become difficult to follow in terms of
45:47reviewing the amendments between England
45:49and Wales such as in terms of periods of
45:52time for enforcement. Um yes I agree
45:57with that statement and I can't wave a
46:00magic wand to change it. What I can do
46:03is to say that if you go to the
46:08legislation.gov
46:10website, you can actually access two
46:14versions of the building act. the
46:16building act as it relates to England
46:19and the building act as it relates to
46:21Wales because there are as the the
46:24questioner says different provisions
46:28um
46:29and
46:32leaflegislation.gov differentiates
46:34between the two and allows you to see
46:37what the differences
46:39are. Doesn't make it any less confusing.
46:42doesn't make it any easier for the
46:45users, but at least I I believe that
46:49what's on that website allows you to see
46:53clearly what is being
46:57asked and and then a really interesting
47:00question. When do you think builders and
47:02designers will have to prove their
47:04competency in a way similar to building
47:07inspectors?
47:10Um I'm going to
47:13well in some cases quite soon in other
47:18cases
47:20um a little less
47:22soon. But I think we need to recognize
47:26that demonstration and evidence of
47:28competence is coming our way whether we
47:32like it or not. Um, I had the
47:35opportunity to listen to Dame Judith in
47:37person on Friday where she was speaking
47:40to an assembly of professional bodies in
47:44the built
47:45environment. And um, Judith is never shy
47:49of telling people what she thinks.
47:53Um, interestingly,
47:56um, she, um, she also she she made some
48:00comments about one particular
48:02discipline, fire engineers, for which
48:05the public inquiry has recommended
48:07setting up a new body to regulate fire
48:11engineers. Uh, and government has
48:14accepted that recommendation along with
48:16all the others. uh and we understand
48:18that there is work going on within the
48:20the ministry of housing, communities and
48:22local government on that very issue as
48:25we speak. Um so David was quite clear
48:30fire engineers are the priority that she
48:32then went on to say don't anybody else
48:36sitting in this room who is not a fire
48:38engineer think ah they're going after
48:41the fire engineers we can relax because
48:45you can't she said um and she made it
48:49very clear that she sees and she
48:52believes that government sees that fire
48:56engineers are the first in line and
48:59others will follow. I'll be very honest,
49:02I think we can anticipate a multi-year
49:06program of um increasing focus on
49:11competence in the sector. Um and there
49:17is a whole industry competent steering
49:20group set up. I can see that at least
49:23one other member of ICSG is is on the
49:26call listening. Uh um and the ICSG is
49:31looking right across the range.
49:33Builders, designers, engineers
49:37um and establishing competence
49:41frameworks. But yeah, okay, so we've got
49:43a competence framework. So what how is
49:45it going to be enabled and implemented
49:48and delivered and increasingly how are
49:52people going to be asked to demonstrate
49:55that they satisfy the the competence
49:58requirements. Um so the the short answer
50:03is I think we're on a journey where
50:05we're going to have to do this more and
50:07more. Part 2A of the building reg is
50:10there. it applies
50:11today. And dare I say, it's not just
50:14builders and designers. Clients have got
50:17some duties set out in part 2A and
50:20they're going to have to start being
50:22competent to deliver on their duty as
50:26well. Um, now I'm going to scroll back
50:29up and see whether we've got any more
50:31questions because I think we have two or
50:34three more minutes.
50:35Um, as far Oh, no, no, hang on. new
50:40posts.
50:42Um, can I elaborate on when approved
50:44guidance overlaps across different
50:47requirements, eg parts B, KM, which take
50:52precedence?
50:54Uh, I'm not a court and ultimately it
50:59would be for a court to decide whether
51:02something in part B took precedence over
51:07something in part M on
51:10accessibility. But I think my
51:12observation would be as far as possible
51:16um instead of saying oh well you know
51:19they're in conflict are there reason are
51:23there reasonable ways in which you can
51:26comply with both you know are you
51:30absolutely certain that if you comply
51:32with one you can't comply with the other
51:35now I am aware that there's one area
51:37where it can be quite difficult Um, part
51:41F requires us to have ventilation. And
51:44if we're doing that through openable
51:46windows, then to meet part F, we want
51:48the window
51:49open. Ah, yes. But I've also now got to
51:53deal with part E around sound and
51:58acoustic
51:59privacy. Um, I need my window shut to
52:02comply with part E. And I sometimes joke
52:06that we actually need to invent
52:08shreddinger's
52:09window which is closed if you're looking
52:12at part E compliance and is open if
52:15you're looking at part F or possibly
52:17even overheating.
52:19Um I I think that is is a challenge of
52:23the technical solution rather than
52:25conflicting um requirements of of the
52:28ads. Um, but there I'm not aware that
52:32there's anything set out that that says
52:34if there's a conflict, this one takes
52:37precedence. That said, if it's a
52:40conflict between getting people out
52:42safely in case of fire and something
52:45else, I know which I would want a
52:47building inspector to prioritize. And I
52:50hope that if that's explained
52:52reasonably, most rational people on a
52:54project would accept it.
52:59Um, I think I've got time to do one more
53:01unless Lauren leaps in.
53:06Um, and
53:10uh, a a building inspector who I know
53:12has pointed out that um, from my Eden
53:16project example, CFD modeling um, is
53:19referenced as as a a way to comply. Um,
53:23now I think there's a subtle difference.
53:26I I wasn't saying that CFD was an
53:28alternative route and yes it is
53:30referenced
53:31um the the the escape distances
53:36um the way that was done at Eden and I'm
53:39happy to follow this up online because I
53:42know that the the questioner is from
53:45this part of the world. Um my
53:49understanding is that a plain reading of
53:52ADB led to you'll have to put tunnels
53:55through the rock. Um
53:58and the the way that the design was
54:01developed um me meant that didn't need
54:05to be done. Now I was offering it as an
54:08example because it's quite a good one
54:10that we we can all recognize. The point
54:13here
54:14is if you're offering to meet the
54:18functional requirement in a way that
54:20isn't clearly what the AD says, you need
54:25to set out clear evidence to convince
54:28the inspector that you really are
54:31complying with the functional
54:32requirement and that you're not trying
54:35to gain the system. Um and you
54:38know context is going to be
54:41critical. Um and dare I say that
54:48the level of assurance that the
54:51inspector has that the design team is
54:55doing things in a compliant way is also
54:58going to be critical.
55:01Um, and I I hope that is tactful enough
55:05but clear
55:07too. Now I'm conscious I've gone over by
55:11a minute so I think I ought to stop
55:13taking questions and I don't know
55:16whether Lauren wants to come back in but
55:19before she does if she does can I just
55:22say thank you very much for joining. Um,
55:24I really hope that that has been
55:26helpful. Um Lauren did flag that there
55:30is an email address um for um sending in
55:34questions. Um and if anybody does have
55:37any more questions then uh you know
55:40please do feel free um to to use that
55:43link. Uh and otherwise please keep an
55:46eye open for the next in the series of
55:48of Wednesday webinars. Um and I hope
55:52that you you're able to put this into
55:54practice soon. Thank you for listening.
55:56Have a good day.