builing and heating regualtion changes in 2015

sarah_crack

Hey there, Im just wondering if anybody could help me?
I built a house last year and half way through the build in february we were told that our Oil heating would not give us the A3 BER certificate we had got the planning for and that we HAD to change to electric. Our oil piping had already been installed but had to be taken out and then had to pay for a new electric heating system. Im very new to all of this and am looking for a bit of help on whether this is correct?
We had agreed at the beginning to have oil heating with solar pannels. The had to change to electric heating with no solar pannels. We also had to pay extra for this electric heating.
Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

BryanF

Sarah your post doesn't make sense.

Do you mean 'heat pump' when you talk about 'electric' hearing?

Gumbo

sarah_crack wrote: »

Hey there, Im just wondering if anybody could help me?
I built a house last year and half way through the build in february we were told that our Oil heating would not give us the A3 BER certificate we had got the planning for and that we HAD to change to electric. Our oil piping had already been installed but had to be taken out and then had to pay for a new electric heating system. Im very new to all of this and am looking for a bit of help on whether this is correct?
We had agreed at the beginning to have oil heating with solar pannels. The had to change to electric heating with no solar pannels. We also had to pay extra for this electric heating.
Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

The regulations you have to comply with depend on the date of commencement on site. So if the the regs changed half way through your build, you don't have to upgrade at all.

sarah_crack

BryanF wrote: »

Sarah your post doesn't make sense.

Do you mean 'heat pump' when you talk about 'electric' hearing?

Sorry, yes I do mean heat pump. Thanks for the quick response.

sarah_crack

kceire wrote: »

The regulations you have to comply with depend on the date of commencement on site. So if the the regs changed half way through your build, you don't have to upgrade at all.

Thank you for your quick response. We were told that it wouldn't pass the BER cert because it wouldn't have met the regulations. After the build had started and the original oil heating pipes were installed.

Metric Tensor

The current regulations that govern BER's and Energy Efficiency in dwellings have been in place since 2011.

The calculations to check to see that your house complied with Part L of the building regulations (what you call "passing the BER") should have been done before construction started thus giving you the opportunity to balance trade-offs and select various components to meet the regulations in the style best suited to your needs.

The problem appears to lie with the fact that either the Part L calculations were not done before construction commenced or else enough significant changes were made as the house was being built that the Part L calculations had to be revisited and changed.

So the question is what caused the BER/Part L calculations to be undertaken so late in the process? The answer to that will probably be multi-faceted but should give you some clarity at any rate!

sarah_crack

Metric Tensor wrote: »

The current regulations that govern BER's and Energy Efficiency in dwellings have been in place since 2011.

The calculations to check to see that your house complied with Part L of the building regulations (what you call "passing the BER") should have been done before construction started thus giving you the opportunity to balance trade-offs and select various components to meet the regulations in the style best suited to your needs.

The problem appears to lie with the fact that either the Part L calculations were not done before construction commenced or else enough significant changes were made as the house was being built that the Part L calculations had to be revisited and changed.

So the question is what caused the BER/Part L calculations to be undertaken so late in the process? The answer to that will probably be multi-faceted but should give you some clarity at any rate!

So would this initially be the responsibility of the surveyor and or the builder? And should the person who is getting the house built have to pay extra for this change considering the oil pipes had already been laid?
Thank you for your response.

Metric Tensor

After you got planning permission did you employ a professional to prepare detailed construction (and possibly tender) drawings and specifications for the house? If so this professional would normally have advised you of the requirement for a Part L compliance (DEAP) calculation. Depending on the particular professional they may have recommended someone or indeed given you a price for doing this check themselves. Or it may have been included in a lump sum price you agreed. Did you agree a scope of works with your professional/certifier? (i.e. a list of what they would do and how much they would charge to do said things.)

It is possible to make many houses pass these regulations using oil boilers accompanied by solar panels - this is what makes me question whether there may have been changes (client directed or otherwise) during construction that necessitated the change.

I don't know what you mean by "oil pipes had already been laid" - in a standard oil boiler set up there is only one "oil pipe" going from the oil tank to the boiler - it's a really skinny pipe that runs predominantly outside and is not particularly expensive.

Do you mean there was a change from radiators to underfloor heating? There is a lot of different pipework in these systems (all of which carry water by the way) - but it's difficult to tell what you mean.

kieranhr

Is it too late at this stage? Is the oil already out, and the heat pump system installed? If so, it can't be helped at this stage.

But if not, you have the option of leaving the oil boiler in, and compensating with however many photovoltaic panels you need to get it over the line in terms of renewable requirements, energy performance and carbon footprint. Of course you still have to get the insulation levels, airtightness, heating controls, etc. right too.

I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, but it's an option.