Smoke alarms

You are more than twice as likely to die in a fire at home if you haven't got a working smoke alarm.
A smoke alarm is the easiest way to alert you to the danger of fire, giving you time to escape. They are cheap, easy to get hold of and easy to fit.

The more smoke alarms you have, the safer you'll be - as long as they are working - so make sure you test them weekly. You should have a minimum of one alarm on each floor. However, if you have only one alarm and two floors, put it somewhere you’ll be able to hear it when you're asleep.
If you have a large electrical appliance, like a computer, in any of the bedrooms, you should fit a smoke alarm there too. You should also make sure you test it weekly.

Modern Door Widths

The building regulation now stipulate that all rooms should be accessible through a door with a clear width of 800mm. This can be reduced to 775mm in certain circumstances but not many. The out come of this is wider passage ways, bigger doors and generally less living accommodation or more costs.
The purpose of these doors is a new word "visitability" meaning that anyone may visit any property without being restricted by lack of access.

Before you build it . . .Plan-It

Fire escape windows

Although Fire escape is not usually a concern for most two storey houses the regulations were changed in 2005 to introduce a means of escape from every room at first floor level.
A window ( nick named a dreep window) must now be installed to allow occupants to (dreep) escape in the event of a fire.

Down stairs loos.

The Building regulations do not permit the removal of a down stairs toilet. These are installed in the current regulations to facilitate people with mobility issues. They were installed in the past for convenience. Either way you can no longer remove them.

What is a letter of comfort

Letters of Comfort were introduced in the 1990's to provide a kind of amnesty to people who had carried out unauthorised alterations prior to the Building Regulation update of 1990. It was meant as a temporary measure and essentially was a letter from the local authority which confirmed they would not be prosecuting you for the unauthorised alteration. Thus giving comfort and allowing a house sale to proceed. This temporary measure still exists some 19 years later. This has allowed some unscrupulous individuals to simply build without a building warrant and then apply for a cheap letter of comfort to allow house sales to proceed. Unfortunately, some local authorities now find LoCs to be so lucrative that they are very unwilling to stop the process. There is however a new procedure on the horizon "a completion certificate where no warrant was issued" this is more robust in terms of compiance with Building Regulation, more intrusive in terms of inspection and more expensive, so will not be popular with the public. It is coming though and should see the demise of the LoC. So if you have any unauthorized alterations to your home you would be wise to sort it out now whilst we still have the cheap and easy option.

before you build it . . .Plan-it

Letters of Comfort- prepare to say goodbye

The "letter of comfort" that the councils have become very used to issuing to regularise unwarranted works are soon to be a thing of the past. A new procedure called " a completion certificate where no warrant was issued" has been introduced and will be the replacement. It is much more robust and requires full drawings as if a warrant were being issued. The drawing must represent "today's" regulations and the works can be opened up for inspection at the behest of Building Control.
Look out rogue developers!

Scottish Building Regulations

The building regulation now stipulate that all rooms should be accessible through a door with a clear width of 800mm. This can be reduced to 775mm in certain circumstances but not many. The out come of this is wider passage ways, bigger doors and generally less living accommodation or more costs.
The purpose of these doors is a new word "visitability" meaning that anyone may visit any property without being restricted by lack of access.