New Building Regulations for Installing Electric Vehicle Charge Points and Building Standards on Overheating, Ventilation and Energy Performance
The Government has introduced new requirements for installing electric vehicle (EV) charge points in new homes, new non-residential buildings and for when some buildings are renovated. These will be brought in through Building Regulations.
Many people may be familiar with the requirements for developments to install EV and renewable technology, which is often conditioned with planning permission, as part of a policy requirement in the Local Plan, through the planning system. This has not, it would appear, been enough to install the required number of EV points in line with the Government’s aspirations with several potential loop holes based upon wording of conditions.
The Government has also introduced new requirements in relation to overheating in new residential dwellings, ventilation for dwellings and other buildings and energy performance for new and existing buildings.
These new requirements will come into force in England on the 15th of June 2022.
Installing Electric Vehicle Charge Points
In November, the government announced the regulations would lead up to 145,000 extra charge points being installed in England each year in the run-up to 2030, when the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will end in Britain.
The government has also made ‘The Electric Vehicles (Smart charge Points) Regulations 2021’ to mandate that most new private (Domestic and workplace) charge points sold in the UK must be smart and meet minimum device-level requirements to protect consumers and the electricity grid. These regulations come into force from 30 June 2022.
Amendments to Building Regulations, Part S and Part 9B, will impose the new requirements and set out exemptions in relation to EV charge points and cable routes.
Building Standards on Overheating, Ventilation and Energy Performance
The government has also set out plans for a Future Homes Standard (for new homes) and Future Buildings Standard (for non-domestic buildings) in England to be introduced in 2025.
An uplift to the Building Regulations is being made now to “provide a meaningful and achievable increase to the energy efficiency standards in the short term and support industry to prepare and position itself to build to the full Standards from 2025”.
The new requirements apply to:
- Standards for mitigating “overheating” in new residential buildings;
- “Ventilation” to maintain indoor air quality for dwellings and buildings other than dwellings; and
- Standards for the energy performance of new and existing buildings (“conservation of fuel and power”).
These changes to the Building Regulations are said by the Government to provide a pathway towards creating homes and buildings that are fit for the future, and a built environment with lower carbon emissions.