Building regulations - new rules

[zaarin_2003]

Hi all, I wonder if you could help please. As you may know, new building regulations came into force in June 2022, via Approved Document L. Approved Document L, Conservation of fuel and power, Volume 1: Dwellings (publishing.service.gov.uk

Paragraphs 4.16-4-17 in L1(a) concerns the ‘continuity of insulation’ in new dwellings, with requirements for insulation to be unbroken and consistent.

New dwellings also have U value requirements under paragraph 4.7 and table 4.1, specifying minimum heat loss through elements such as walls, roofs etc.

Extensions and Conservatories however, are covered in section 10. Under ‘extension of a dwelling’, paragraphs 10.7-10.13, which refer to the insulation requirements, only mention compliance with the U-value requirements of section 4.7-4.8 and table 4.2; there is no mention of a requirement for ‘continuity of insulation’, such as there is for new dwellings.

So it looks to me as if there is no requirement for continuity of insulation for extensions. Is that correct?

The reason I ask is that the company building our extension have stated that we cannot run services through the insulation layer in the floor due, it seems, to this requirement. They mentioned 'new building regs' and it seems they are referring to the above. Reasonably familiar with law, I assumed that (if it applies to extensions) there would be exceptions to this rule, reasonableness tests etc, and that it wouldn't be a hard and fast rule that services could not pass through insulation due to this 'continuity of insulation' requirement. It seems that that is the case, as 4.1704.17 include sub-paragraph allowances made for services to be able to pass through insulation layers (within reason of course).

Now, as per the above, I'm interested to know if the requirements of paragraphs 4.16-4.17 apply to extensions at all.

Thank you so much.

[dslippy]

If it is a new build how is any part of it an extension?

[Ukmicky]

Extensions are not listed as an exclusion from the regs and If you are building an extension you need to look at L1B which covers extensions.

if the extension is used as additional living space for the house it will need to comply .


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[R0b]

I'm no expert on this but on a literal interpretation, I would be inclined to agree with the OP. Paragraph 4.15 specifically calls out continuity of insulation for new dwellings rather than new and existing dwellings.

However, one might argue that paragraph 4.14 would extend to both new and existing dwellings. Assuming that is the case, para. 4.14 does say that you should ensure the insulation is reasonably continuous across newly built elements. That suggests to me there is an element of reasonableness and is not rigid in that it must be continuous.

If it were me, and I felt strongly about it, I would probably argue that continuity of insulation does not apply to extensions. Many other sections such as thermal bridging and air tightness specifically call out guidance separately for new or existing dwellings but the continuity of insulation does not. Can't find anything in the document that suggests if the extension is a living space there must be continuity of insulation but again, I would argue the words reasonably continuous does not mean absolute.

[sandfordboy]

Have you contacted the Local authority Building Control Dept? They will clarify ... also,who is carrying out Building Control inspections ?