VOICES | HYWEL DAVIES Rewriting the rules Government is consulting on a number of building-related issues addressing safety and climate change, while the Queens Speech hints at future legislation supporting Dame Judith Hackitts recommendations, says Hywel Davies G overnment is currently in consultation overdrive. Driven primarily by climate-change policy, the package of proposals for the Future Homes Standard, Part L and Part F is summarised on page 24. But there are also proposals on building safety, driven by the recommendations of Dame Judith Hackitts Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety. Proposals to change the rules for sprinklers in taller residential buildings are still open for comment. The governments preferred option, at least when published, is to reduce the trigger height at which sprinklers are required from 30m to 18m. There is an option for 11m, and opportunity to propose other trigger heights but why is the proposal 18m and not 16m, or 20m? And why 11m? It is unclear where these numbers have come from, or what the evidence is to support those choices. Interested readers are encouraged to look at the consultation page of the CIBSE website. Beyond that, the Queens Speech contained half a sentence about laws to implement new building safety standards. While the exact meaning of this is unclear, it suggests we are likely to see new primary legislation to implement a number of aspects of the Hackitt review, such as the proposed new building safety regulator. That cannot be established without primary legislation. The Building Act dates from 1984 and those familiar with it know it is due an overhaul; this could be the perfect opportunity. Certainly, the proposed Gateways under Dame Judiths proposals will be hard to reconcile with the current rules for building notices, so perhaps they will change. While we can only speculate on details, we are certainly on the verge of significant change in the legal framework within which most readers operate. We can expect further consultations in the months ahead. It looks likely that the initial response will cover higher risk buildings taller buildings where people sleep, subject to legal definitions yet to be drafted. Initially, this will be a subset of the existing building stock, but all indications suggest that this will, in time, be extended to a wider range of buildings. So, we may be set for a period in which there are two regimes one for the higher-risk buildings and a less onerous regime for the rest. However, we should not be surprised to find bluechip commercial clients looking at the new regime and the greater checks on building outcomes, and expect their supply chain to adopt it for them. If a major contractor can follow the new regime for a high-rise residential block on the fringe of the City of London, why can they not deliver that on a prime office tower a short distance away? We are certainly on the verge of significant change in the legal framework DR HYWEL DAVIES is technical director at CIBSE www.cibse.org The TurboChill range from Airedale With ESEER up to 9.28 TurboChill Water Cooled TurboChill Air Cooled TG230 TurboCor, turbo charged TurboCor Compressor The TurboChill range is optimized for use with Turbocor oil-free centrifugal compressors, delivering low-maintenance and near-silent cooling solutions. For more information visit airedale.com or call 0113 2391000 22 November 2019 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Nov19 pp22-23 Hywel Davies.indd 22 25/10/2019 14:42