Minimum Standards for House Building

[whhistle]

Does anyone know if house builders are caught by any sort of regulations that are like the following?

For example, all bulbs must be LEDs.
Or houses must have electric car charging points installed?
Solar panels on the roof?
Properly insulated walls (IE, filled cavities).

I know one house builder cut costs by installing telephone master sockets in the street until BT got savvy and put a stop to it.

Just thinking about how we have all this technology (like finger print sensor instead of door keys anyone?), yet houses haven't really been build much different to how they were 30/40 years ago, so the new tech always has to be bolted on instead of provision being made at the point of the build.

Discuss.

 

[Iskra]

All new builds have a downstairs toilet.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Does anyone know if house builders are caught by any sort of regulations that are like the following?

For example, all bulbs must be LEDs.
Or houses must have electric car charging points installed?
Solar panels on the roof?
Properly insulated walls (IE, filled cavities).

There are the Approved Documents, but the way the building regs generally work is to specify minimum performance rather than actual specifics.

As for bulbs, there was something requiring them to ensure energy saving bulbs were used which meant a specific design of socket, which most people probably ripped out in the first ten minutes so they didn't have to use nasty CFLs.

 

[Bletchleyite]

All new builds have a downstairs toilet.

Is that a requirement? What's the reason? Is it to ensure there is an accessible (ish) toilet for any wheelchair using visitor?

 

[telstarbox]

Parking - some councils now require a certain percentage of the car parking provision to include electric charging, although this is for new planning applications and not enforced retrospectively.

For accessibility there is the "Lifetime Homes" guidance - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifetime_Homes_Standards

In Greater London there are minimum space standards enforced by the GLA, which is why you nearly always see balconies on newbuild flats to meet the "private outdoor space" requirement.
https://www.theplanner.co.uk/news/l...oved-and-new-minimum-space-standards-outlined

 

[Iskra]

Is that a requirement? What's the reason? Is it to ensure there is an accessible (ish) toilet for any wheelchair using visitor?

Yes, all new builds have them due to building regs and the ground floor WC door must open outwards. Yes, that’s the reason. Plug sockets are also supposed to be higher for the same reason. Seems a bit weird that they don’t go the full way and insist on level or ramped access though as well.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yes, all new builds have them due to building regs and the ground floor WC door must open outwards. Yes, that’s the reason. Plug sockets are also supposed to be higher for the same reason. Seems a bit weird that they don’t go the full way and insist on level or ramped access though as well.

Level access is a flooding risk so no houses are ever built like that. Ramped access would probably work, though, or they could be required to supply a moveable wheelchair ramp with the property, which could also be required at each sale.

 

[underbank]

Yes, all new builds have them due to building regs and the ground floor WC door must open outwards. Yes, that’s the reason. Plug sockets are also supposed to be higher for the same reason. Seems a bit weird that they don’t go the full way and insist on level or ramped access though as well.

Yet the actual door is normal sized so you'd never get a wheelchair through it, and even if you did, the room size is so small you couldn't put the wheelchair alongside the toilet to move over, so it's pretty unsuitable anyway!

 

[ainsworth74]

Yet the actual door is normal sized so you'd never get a wheelchair through it, and even if you did, the room size is so small you couldn't put the wheelchair alongside the toilet to move over, so it's pretty unsuitable anyway!

I think you're falling into the trap of thinking that "accessible" means "wheelchair". In my line of work (nothing to do with house building I hasten to add!) I see a lot of people with physical restrictions which means they end up using commodes or have to head towards the toilet at the first hint of needing to use one because getting upstairs is a struggle. These are people who aren't wheelchair bound but would benefit massively from having a downstairs toilet. My grandmother, thinking about it, was another example of this. She had to use a wheelchair outside due to her physical disabilities but using a walking stick and handrails she could mobilise around the house but having to get upstairs every time she needed the toilet would have been a nightmare. So they had a downstairs toilet fitted.

There's more to accessibility than just wheelchairs.

 

[R G NOW.]

As for bulbs, there was something requiring them to ensure energy saving bulbs were used which meant a specific design of socket, which most people probably ripped out in the first ten minutes so they didn't have to use nasty CFLs.

About 2010 I lived in a flat where two of the lampholders had special connectors that took a 2 pin special bulb. But in the place I live now, built in 2012 they are all just normal bc lampholders. The idea seems to have been abandoned.

 

[underbank]

I think you're falling into the trap of thinking that "accessible" means "wheelchair".

No, I know, I was replying to someone talking about wheelchairs.

 

[HH]

Has the electric car charging points become law? AFAIK it is Policy, which is a little different. Certainly new houses are being built without them.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Has the electric car charging points become law? AFAIK it is Policy, which is a little different. Certainly new houses are being built without them.

Flats are more of an issue, or houses with communal parking areas. With traditional houses, if they have a driveway you can always run a cable through a letterbox. No fast charge of course, but if you're charging overnight that's less of an issue.

 

[R G NOW.]

Flats are more of an issue, or houses with communal parking areas. With traditional houses, if they have a driveway you can always run a cable through a letterbox. No fast charge of course, but if you're charging overnight that's less of an issue.

This I think is a minefield?. As communal blocks would pose a problem, due to prohibitive costs to management companies. I suggest people living in such places, would have to use sockets provided at supermarkets. My train station, Gloucester now has them in the rear carpark.
If fitted to the fronts of houses with parking spaces. You would get other people backing up and stealing your electricity, so the idea in the quote above is the only safe way to do it. Would have to be a special adaptor and transformer unit that plugs into a 13amp socket in a hallway.
So, yes, would only be practical for a permanent connection on a wall, if fitted into a garage next to or near a property that has mains power supplied.

In a few years time supermarkets will have to install a point at every parking space, when more cars become electric, as people would plug in, and do their shopping. Then they would load the shopping into the boot. Then settle the bill on the machine and unplug, drive away.

 

[WelshBluebird]

This I think is a minefield?. As communal blocks would pose a problem, due to prohibitive costs to management companies. I suggest people living in such places, would have to use sockets provided at supermarkets. My train station, Gloucester now has them in the rear carpark.
If fitted to the fronts of houses with parking spaces. You would get other people backing up and stealing your electricity, so the idea in the quote above is the only safe way to do it. Would have to be a special adaptor and transformer unit that plugs into a 13amp socket in a hallway.
So, yes, would only be practical for a permanent connection on a wall, if fitted into a garage next to or near a property that has mains power supplied.

In a few years time supermarkets will have to install a point at every parking space, when more cars become electric, as people would plug in, and do their shopping. Then they would load the shopping into the boot. Then settle the bill on the machine and unplug, drive away.

You also have charging points in some workplaces, there has previously been talking of adding street based chargers into the bases of streetlights etc, a lot of communal blocks already have secure parking areas with individual spaces for each flat so I don't see why electric charging at those spaces isn't possible (maybe not for existing builds but certainly for future ones - you could even tie the electric use to the flat whose car parking space that is and bill for it) etc etc. I think the issue is that really there is only one answer for petrol / desiel cars and that is your normal petrol station. For electric cars there are multiple different options than in all likelihood will work together, rather than just having one solution like we do now. And as for people "people backing up and stealing your electricity" that is easily prevented either by the use of technology (you have to use an app to open the socket for example) or a good old fashioned key.

 

[The Lad]

Building Regulations specify some standards but generally standards could be higher, it is easier to put things in on build rather than as an afterthought and the standard applied is probably that when planning permission was granted rather than when built.

 

[Andrew S]

Also, to prevent people "backing up and stealing electricity", you could just have a switch inside the house to keep the outside charging socket switched off when not in use.

 

[R G NOW.]

You also have charging points in some workplaces, there has previously been talking of adding street based chargers into the bases of streetlights etc, a lot of communal blocks already have secure parking areas with individual spaces for each flat so I don't see why electric charging at those spaces isn't possible (maybe not for existing builds but certainly for future ones - you could even tie the electric use to the flat whose car parking space that is and bill for it) etc etc. I think the issue is that really there is only one answer for petrol / desiel cars and that is your normal petrol station. For electric cars there are multiple different options than in all likelihood will work together, rather than just having one solution like we do now. And as for people "people backing up and stealing your electricity" that is easily prevented either by the use of technology (you have to use an app to open the socket for example) or a good old fashioned key.

Would you credit it?. I went out after I had put that post on and saw that a neighbour a few doors down has now had one of these put on his wall. It is a box with a black base and white cover, and out of it's bottom is the lead to plug in to the car. So I have to say, some of my post above, maybe out of date now.

I was thinking about existing flat blocks, obviously, what you say is the best they can do with new build blocks. 1. Install it at the start and fit an isolator by the meter in the cupboard supplying the individual apartment. 2. Or a lockable box at the top of each space. Some developers may cut costs and do the first one.

 

[R G NOW.]

Would just like to ask a question?. Do cars charge from mains voltage or is it though a transformer? I imagine that they would from the mains as they would need very big batteries. I would assume the first one, as trains need a very high voltage.

 

[The Lad]

Domestic points are mains voltage supply to the car. Rapid points (30 to 60 min full charge) need 3 phase 415v supply.

 

[R G NOW.]

Domestic points are mains voltage supply to the car. Rapid points (30 to 60 min full charge) need 3 phase 415v supply.

That would be expensive for supermarkets then? As they would really need 3 phase cables to each point, so as cars would charge quickly while people shopped.

 

[Bletchleyite]

That would be expensive for supermarkets then? As they would really need 3 phase cables to each point, so as cars would charge quickly while people shopped.

Supermarkets will probably be powering all the fridges etc off three phase anyway, so it's probably not hard for them to install it outside.

 

[BRX]

Level access is a flooding risk so no houses are ever built like that. Ramped access would probably work, though, or they could be required to supply a moveable wheelchair ramp with the property, which could also be required at each sale.

The conventional meaning of 'level access' means that you can get in in a wheelchair; ie no steps. That may or may not mean ramps as such. It doesn't necessarily mean there is any flood risk; that depends on the site.

All newbuilds must have step free access at least to the ground floor. They must be at least 'visitable' - that is, a wheelchair user can visit someone living there which means access to the principal storey including a WC. There are other categories of housing, which are fully accessible and suitable for someone in a wheelchair to live there, but not all new housing has to meet that standard.

 

[BRX]

houses haven't really been build much different to how they were 30/40 years ago,

That's not really true. Although the building industry is quite slow to change, a house built now is very different from one built in 1980. As well as accessibility standards already mentioned, the minimum level of thermal insulation is now quite a lot greater, for example. It's also now pretty standard to have network cabling and stuff like that built in (although that'll all probably become redundant soon enough too).

 

[hooverboy]

That would be expensive for supermarkets then? As they would really need 3 phase cables to each point, so as cars would charge quickly while people shopped.

supermarkets etc already have extensive 3 phase supply.

most industrial buildings do.

 

[hooverboy]

That's not really true. Although the building industry is quite slow to change, a house built now is very different from one built in 1980. As well as accessibility standards already mentioned, the minimum level of thermal insulation is now quite a lot greater, for example. It's also now pretty standard to have network cabling and stuff like that built in (although that'll all probably become redundant soon enough too).

indeed. same with electrics and wiring.
40 odd years ago it was basically ok to stick a new power point almost anywhere in a bathroom, route the wall any way you like,connect up and smother in plaster.

now there are very strict requirements on what devices can go where, at what safe height and distance etc, the level of ingress protection,how you route(horizontally or vertically only on domestic walls), must be marked and put through conduit with covering,and must have RCD fitted.

 

[The Lad]

I'm not sure that step free access is required yet, as in permissions granted up to a few months ago.
Home chargers are up to 7 kw, similar to a shower compared with Max load of about 23kw for the house.
Rapid chargers are up to 50kw.

 

[BRX]

I'm not sure that step free access is required yet, as in permissions granted up to a few months ago.

Step free access has been required for some years now.

It doesn't have anything to do with when planning permission is granted. It's covered under the Building Regulations, and what's relevant is when you start your application for that process.

 

[bnm]

Step free access has been required for some years now.

Can you point me to where in the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended 2016) it says that step-free access to a dwelling is mandatory? The wording I can find says approaches to a dwelling can be stepped if the lie of the land prevents step free, and that the principle private entrance to a dwelling can be stepped up to 150mm if unavoidable.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Can you point me to where in the Building Regulations 2010 (as amended 2016) it says that step-free access to a dwelling is mandatory? The wording I can find says approaches to a dwelling can be stepped if the lie of the land prevents step free, and that the principle private entrance to a dwelling can be stepped up to 150mm if unavoidable.

I did wonder as I'm sure I've seen plenty of new build houses with stepped entrances. I believe a low profile door sill may be effectively mandatory though. Very often with building regs it's "you must achieve X, one approved way to achieve X is Y", so it's quite possible you get "the ground floor of the property must be wheelchair accessible including to toilet facilities, one way to achieve this is to have a non-step entrance and a downstairs lavatory with an outward opening door". There might be other ways to meet it, such as a supplied wheelchair ramp and a proper lift to the toilet upstairs.