Saturday, September 12, 2009

The Approved Document For The Uk Building Regulations

By Stephen Jones Reece

The UK Building Regulations are used to set out the required standards around the construction and design of buildings and differs to obtaining planning permission for your work. The regulations apply to the majority of new buildings and alterations of existing buildings in England and Wales, whether they are domestic, commercial or industrial buildings.

The Building Act in 1984 laid down the foundations of what we now regard as the current building regulations. Today the majority of the regulations can still be found in the Building Regulations 2000 (however some have been updated since). The regulations list the criteria for which buildings should be built to.

They have been created for health and safety purposes to ensure that the people that live and work within these buildings are kept safe and protect. In addition to this, the regulations have also been designed with an eye on energy conversation.

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.

The Government in the UK publishes the approved building regulations which people can they obtain a copy of through authorised distributors to make sure they meet these requirements. Not all of the documents are updated each year and usually accompany a change in the law or amendment to a previous statute.

If building work is being undertaken then the responsibility of meeting the requirements lies with the person in charge of the construction, which is typically the builder or project manager on a bigger site.

There is a list of the types of projects that are regarded as building work and therefore fall within the regulations and these are detailed within Regulation 3.

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