Meeting Part L 2006 Requirements
The latest changes to Part L of the Building Regulations complete the move towards a single compliance route for all new buildings. The change, which began in 1995 with the introduction of SAP ratings for new dwellings, requires designers to adopt a 'whole building' approach and to demonstrate that carbon dioxide emissions from the new building will not exceed a stipulated maximum.
This holistic approach offers greater design flexibility but requires simultaneous consideration of all factors affecting energy efficiency including:
- type of building and its configuration
- siting and orientation
- fenestration
- elemental U-values
- air leakage rate
- thermal bridging
- space heating/solar gain/space cooling
- water heating
- lighting efficiency
- ventilation
- type of fuel (for dwellings only).
Demonstrating compliance for extensions to and refurbishment of existing buildings, especially dwellings, will still rely heavily on elemental U-values.
There are now four new Approved Documents:
L1A New dwellings
L1B Work on existing dwellings
L2A New buildings other than dwellings
L2B Work on existing buildings other than dwellings
