Building Regulations
New building regulations came into force on 1st April 2002. The government's policy of increasing the thermal efficiency of buildings is due to their commitment to reducing carbon dioxide emission in the Kyoto Agreement. The new regulatory Document L covers the construction of new buildings and also the replacement of windows and doors (with a glazed area over 50%) in dwellings. All such installations must be registered with the local authority building control department, either directly or through FENSA (a government approved body policing the new rules). Normally conservatories, porches, garages and other out-buildings are not covered by these regulations.
uPVC framed windows and doors will meet the revised target of thermal efficiency (a U value of 2 or less) provided the glass sealed unit is fitted with low emissivity glass and the air gap is 16mm or more.
Document L also requires that those replacement windows and doors requiring registration are also no less compliant with all other sections of building regulations. This includes the sections covering escape (in the case of fire), ventilation and disabled access.
All glazed building products must comply with Document N that covers the use of safety glass in high risk areas.
Revised building regulations are coming into force on all contracts agreed from 1st October 2010. These increase the minimum thermal efficiency (U-value) to 1.6 for windows and 1.8 for doors. These regulations now cover doors regardless of their relative glazed area. Conservatories, porches, garages and outbuildings will remain outside the scope of these regulations.