Scottish regulations news

If you are ‘north of the border' you will need to bear in mind that Section 6 has also been rewritten to coincide with the new SAP and SBEM regulation changes. Scottish Ministers (Riaghaltas na h-Alba) are responsible for Building Standards in Scotland and the Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2010 came into force on October 1, 2010. 

Here are some of the areas that you need to be aware of:

U-Values
U-Values are being lowered for residential new builds. On top of this, party walls will need to be insulated and sealed to stop heat escaping. There are different values needed for commercial developments. There is also a different batch of U-Values for conversions, and another two set of figures for residential extensions!

Target emission rate
This is now 30% lower when compared to the previous regulations and is bigger than the reduction for England and Wales, and applies to both commercial and residential developments.

Air permeability
Air permeability testing (also known as air leakage testing) is now a requirement on new domestic development (around 5% of all new houses will be tested, with this figure increasing in the coming couple of years. Acoustic tests are also required on a proportion of newly built houses. Visit our air leakage testing page to see the range of services we offer.

Accredited construction details
These are being brought into Section 6 and SAP. This is a way of proving that the quality of the construction meets what the developer had proposed, and helps to lower heat bills and draughts.

At Energist, we aim to make Section 6 as simple and straightforward as possible.  Ring one of our dedicated assessors today on 08458 386 387.