If you took advantage of the transitional provisions for the new Part F, Part L, Part O, and Part S last year by submitting your Building Regulations application before June 15th, 2022, this message is for you.
Please note that in order to maintain the effect of the old Approved Documents, construction work must commence on-site before June 15th of this year.
To ensure compliance, we require notification of the proposed start on-site and a site inspection arrangement. This will allow us to conduct a site visit and document a substantial start for each building or plot. Failure to verify a substantial start before June 15th, 2023 may result in the application of the 2021 Editions of Parts F,L,O, and S when approving the building.
Once we have conducted an inspection to confirm a substantial start on-site, it is expected that work on the building will progress until completion. However, if no further work is undertaken following our site visit, the inspection may not meet the criteria of a substantial start on-site, and the 2021 Editions of the Building Regulations Parts L, F, O, and S may still be applied to the building.
Do all plots have to be commenced?
Where multiple dwellings or buildings are on a single application, work on each unit must have commenced for transitional provisions to apply – so for an application for 100 dwellings, work on all 100 units must have commenced before 15 June 2023.
If only 10 of these 100 dwellings have started, only these 10 can be built to the previous standards, the remainder must meet the new 2022 standards.
Foundations for blocks of flats is considered a start on all units within that block.
In the case of Part S (Infrastructure for charging electric vehicles) where multiple dwellings or buildings are on a single application, work on just one unit must have commenced for transitional provisions to apply to all units.
To demonstrate commencement you must have started one of the following for each plot:
- 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
- drainage work specific to the building(s) concerned.
The Government has confirmed that the following would not constitute a commencement for the purposes of building regulations:
- removal of vegetation
- demolition of any previous buildings on the site
- removal of top soil
- removal or treatment of contaminated soil
- excavation of trial holes
- dynamic compaction
- general site servicing works (e.g. roadways).
