Yesterday I was privileged to join the working group of the new Approved Document Part L on behalf of the RIBA. The group was convened of experts from across the construction industry to inform comments to the Buildign Regulations Advisory Group who will ultimately work with the Welsh Government on the updated regulations. Unfortunately, due to the sensitive nature of the discussions, I can’t share any spoilers, but I can talk more genrally about the issues to be considered for the new Part L.
Part L deals with ‘Conservation of fuel and power’, but to most in the construction industry it’s seen as the regulation that deals with energy usage, or to some, the one with the U-Values that inform insulation levels. Needless to say, this doesn’t convey the complexity of what’s involved.
For those of us that fnd this interesting, it’s a particularily interesting time to be considering the regulations, given that the government has pledged to bring to an end the supply of natural gas to new build homes by 2025. In my opinion this should be a key consideration in the new regulations, but difficult to implement in a phased way without penalising small scale developers.
It was a very informative afternoon and I feel confident that Wales will be leading the way in this area in the next itteration of these regualtions thanks to the invaluable input of the high quality of professional exertise gathered around the table.
