The building regulations within the United Kingdom specify the legal requirements surrounding the development and design of buildings within England and Wales. The regulations differ to the concept of obtaining planning permission to undertake building work. These regulations include new and current buildings and cover domestic or commercial.
Building regulations, which are made under powers provided in the Building Act 1984 and apply in England and Wales, are mainly found in The Building Regulations 2000. The regulations set out the broad objectives which the individual aspects of the building design and construction should set out to achieve.
The reason behind their introduction was mainly for health and safety purposes for the people that were then going to use the buildings that were erected. As well as this reasoning there were also introduced to conserve energy within those buildings.
The Building Regulations contain various sections dealing with definitions, procedures, and what is expected in terms of the technical performance of building work. Anyone wanting to carry out building work which is subject to the Building Regulations is required by law to make sure it complies with the regulations.
Approved building regulation documents are published by the Government in the UK as a way of providing guidance to ensure that people can meet these requirements. Some of these approved documents have not changed for a number of years while others have been updated more recently through recent amendments and laws.
If you are undertaking building work such as that on a construction site then you need to be aware that you have the responsibility for ensuring that your works meets the requirements set out within the regulations.
The key point to remember is that as the person who owns the building it will be you who will be served with the enforcement notice if the work does not comply. Regulation 3 of the building regulations actually specifies the types of projects that are seen as Building work and thereby fall within the UK regulations.
Keeping up to date the the UK building regulations is not easy. For the latest amendments and current versions of the regulations simply click here: building regulations approved document
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