Building regulations and the conservatories market: Comply to all regs now - it's only a matter of time

King Herod was one of the first recorded people in history to introduce a law concerning the construction of buildings - ‘should a man construct a building which falls down and kills another, then this man should be slain'.

Building Regulations (England & Wales) in their modern form were only introduced as mandatory rather advisory as recently as 1966 and were principally created to ensure that minimum and common standards for the health, safety and convenient use of buildings would be achieved. Prior to that, building standards varied enormously and at their worst provided buildings that were damp, poorly constructed, unhealthy and unsafe.

Since then, Building Regulations have been regularly reviewed and updated and in 1985 the concept of Approved Documents was introduced to take account of modern building methods and improved technical solutions.

Governments now essentially use the Regulations to ensure that the health and welfare of the public is protected and that the environmental impact of buildings is minimised. I think this can only be considered a good thing - and certainly not something to be feared.

Conservatories exempt

The reason that conservatories of less than 30m2 floor area were exempted from the Building Regulations in 1985 seems to have been that the government viewed conservatories as simple glazed structures used to grow plants and not as room extensions to dwellings, which they unquestionably are today.

The time and trouble required to properly police the construction of modest sized conservatories by LABC was judged to outweigh the risk they represented to health and safety. However, in Scotland the lawmakers were more cautious and it was only conservatories with a footprint of 8m2 or less which were made exempt - and these are effectively porches.

Exemption did not mean that conservatories were excluded from the requirements of what became Part N, but notification and LABC assessment were not considered necessary.

Of course, in recent years, the requirements of Part L have had an impact on conservatories, in so far as the connecting door is concerned and that any permanent heating is isolatable from the main dwelling but there was still no policing of the rules and it was still ‘taken on trust' that these requirements would be followed.

Revised Part P and L

adherence to all the Building Regulations should not only be achieved, but demonstrated and checked.

In January 2005, the revised Part P - Electrical Installations was introduced. This overrides the exemption and requires that either the electrical installation be carried out and certified by a member of a ‘competent person scheme' or else LABC has to be notified and will inspect.

In inspecting for Part P compliance, they will now also check to see that Part N and Part L requirements are in fact met. So, gradually, we have seen an erosion of the original exemption and it can surely only be a matter of time before the government removes the exemption entirely.

As they struggle to meet Kyoto Protocol commitments, I believe the government will re-focus on conservatories at some point soon. Meanwhile, Rehau is one of the few companies which has already made its position completely clear.

We believe that in the design and construction of conservatories, irrespective of size, adherence to all the Building Regulations should not only be achieved but should be demonstrated and checked.

This would ensure that consumers' interests are better protected than they are at present. The current situation brings the rest of the industry, which predominantly strives to act responsibly, into disrepute.

Rehau Dimension Plus

This is why Rehau has introduced Rehau-Dimension Plus, the market's first, structurally proven complete conservatory superstructure system that also includes products and solutions to help comply with all other Approved Documents, including requirements for base-works. This is also why Rehau is only allowing Rehau-Dimension Plus Registered Installers - who are vetted, trained and then audited by Rehau - to sell and install the system.

So until the government removes the exemption entirely, and as far as we can tell, only consumers who buy Rehau-Dimension Plus from a Rehau-Dimension Plus Registered Installer are assured of the same minimum standards in their conservatory that they would receive if Building Regulations fully applied today and were properly policed.