Trickle of compliants forces regs review
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windows to be fitted with trickle ventilators, as set out in Part F of the Building Regulations, was hastily withdrawn last week after the DCLG admitted getting its sums badly wrong on the cost to industry.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 This guidance was officially withdrawn by the DCLG on 2 October 2006.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.
Post a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.