The ‘good practice’ requirement for all replacement windows to be fitted with trickle ventilators, as set out in Part F of the Building Regulations, was hastily withdrawn last week after the DCLG admitted getting its sums badly wrong on the cost to industry.

Doubts about the measure first emerged at a NBS seminar on ventilation in September, when the DCLG’s Buildings Division admitted to ‘a bit of a problem’. The problem was that the financial impact to industry had been estimated at £8m a year, while the Glass and Glazing Federation put the figure at ten times that amount.

The Approved Document for Part F calls for trickle ventilators in replacement windows only where the original windows had them until 1 October 2006, after which date all replacement windows were to have them (paragraph 3-4 in Approved Document F, 2006 edition). This guidance was officially withdrawn by the DCLG on 2 October 2006.

Instead the DCLG has accepted the offer of the Glass and Glazing Federation to produce new good practice guidance that will take on board industry views. The DCLG added that the new guidance should be in place as soon as possible.

Please be aware, as well as the EA site there is a further EA site http://www.pipernetworking.com/floodrisk/index.html which gives National Standing Advice to Local Planning Authorities for Planning Applications. Even when the risk is low ie Flood Risk 1, a Flood Risk Assessment may still be required. I have been requested to provide one for a housing project as the site is over 1 ha. Flood Risk 1 is referred to as a “little to no risk area” and is shown unshaded on the maps! The main area that will need to be covered by the risk assessment for this site is that of the impact of surface water drainage. SUDS would be a consideration whether an FRA or not was required. A good starting point to assessing your project requirement is “the matrix” http://www.pipernetworking.com/floodrisk/matrix.html. The site also provides technical notes on flood risk assessment, but hopefully these will be carried out by a consultant.  

Another major piece of employment legislation came into force this week, although aspect of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations are likely to generate more deliberate resistance than the new fire safety regime.

Key points of the new regulations are that employers should not permit age discrimination in areas of recruitment, promotion and training, should not set or maintain any unjustified retirement age policy for those under 65. The age limit for unfair dismissal claims and redundancy rights has also been removed.

New rights for employees include the opportunity to request to work beyond retirement age (a request the employer is bound to consider), and at least six months notice to be given prior to any planned retirement date.

In a profession where practitioners under 40 are still regarded as ‘young’ and some at 65 are just getting into their stride, the employment concerns are not typical of UK businesses as a whole; other sectors are more likely than architecture to challenge the new regulations – as is already happening in the courts. The new age of anti-ageism has clearly arrived, however.

BONFIRE OF THE OLD FIRE REGULATIONS
Fire certificates became history this week as new fire safety law came into force from 1 October 2006. The legislation, which replaces over 70 pieces of legislation with a single reform, has been well signalled though many businesses will remain unaware of their responsibilities.

The key reform is that tasking of a ‘responsible person’ within each business premises to be accountable for fire safety, including checks on fire protection equipment and facilities.

Specific guidance documents, which can be purchased or freely downloaded, has been replaced for a whole range of business premises – such as residential care homes, factories, healthcare and educational facilities – and can be found at http://www.firesafetyguides.communities.gov.uk

Practice principals are also responsible for their own practice premises, of course, as employers. Your own procedures can be quickly put to the test by using the self-assessment routine at the new Fire Gateway website at http://www.fire.gov.uk