Objectives of the consultation
This consultation was issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in August 2013 and closed in October 2013. It was seeking views on the results of a review of building regulations and local housing standards.
The review proposed a radical reform of the framework of building regulations, guidance, local codes and discretionary technical housing standards that are currently applied to new housing through the planning system. It aimed to reduce bureaucracy and costs on house builders to support growth, whilst delivering quality, sustainability, safety and accessibility.
Supporting papers
To download papers that supported this consultation please follow the links below.
CIBSE response
CIBSE confirmes its support for the overall system of technical building regulations currently operating in England but also recognises that the current arrangements lead to a highly fragmented and inefficient situation, in which almost every development may potentially be subject to a unique set of requirements.
In the case of housing, where there is a relatively high level of replication of unit designs, and where efficiency depends on delivering the broadly similar units across a number of separate development sites, there is a real tension between the genuine needs of local requirements, and the economic benefits of greater standardisation.
As we seek to improve the standards of the buildings in which we live and work, there will always be those who strive to go beyond the minimum legal standard. A construction and building sector that is able to export its expertise and achievements needs a framework in which innovation can be codified into standards, adopted more widely and, once it is recognised as being appropriate, incorporated into building regulations as the new minimum standard which all are expected to achieve. Many of the energy provisions of the Code for Sustainable Homes have effectively taken this journey already, which is why CIBSE considers that energy performance provisions should fall wholly within the scope of Building Regulations.
To read the full CIBSE response, please follow the link below.
Results of the consultation and next steps
Department for Communities and Local Government published the summary of responses to the Housing Standards Review consultation and the Ministerial Statement on 13 March 2014. To download the documents, please follow the links below.