Energy efficiency and ventilation regulations under review

The ROI Department of Housing, Planning & Local Government has today (10th April 2018) published a public consultation to review the energy efficiency and ventilation requirements of the building regulations for dwellings.

The review is of: Part L (Conservation of Fuel and Energy) Dwellings, the accompanying Technical Guidance Document L for Dwellings; and Draft DEAP 4. and Part F (Ventilation), the accompanying Technical Guidance Document F; a draft Installation and Commissioning of Ventilation Systems for Dwellings – Achieving Compliance with Part F 2018 The consultation is in line with previous announcements on making it mandatory to upgrade the energy efficiency of your home if you undertake major renovations, and making mechanical ventilation mandatory for new builds. However natural ventilation will continue to be a possible ventilation strategy but only for dwellings with an airtightness value of between 5 and 3 3 per hour per sqm at 50 Pa.

Highlights

The highlights include:

Introducing minimum U-values of 0.18 W/sqmK for all building elements (walls, roof, floor) as opposed to the previous value of 0.21 W/sqmK.
Minimum U-values for windows and doors set at a strict 1.4 W/sqmK (removal of permitted variations)
Airtightness to change from 7 m3 per hour per sqm to 5 m3 per hour per sqm at 50 Pa.

For a breakdown of the main points, see this overview.

Share your thoughts

The public consultation document are available on: http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/building-standards/tgd-part-f-ventilation/public-consultation-review-part-l-f-building Submissions and comments on the review of Part L and/or Part F should be submitted on the Templates for Submissions only and sent by email to buildingstandards@housing.gov.ie The closing date for the receipt of submissions and comments is no later than 5:30 p.m. on Friday 8th June 2018.

Background

Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the energy performance of buildings (Recast) sets requirements at an EU level for Member States to improve the energy performance of buildings and to make an important contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. As part of the implementation of this directive it is proposed to amend Building Regulations Part L Conservation of Fuel and Energy- Dwellings, and Building Regulations Part F Ventilation. Update 24/09/2018: The Department of Housing told Selfbuild that the new Technical Guidance Document Part L, dealing with energy use (parameters for U-values, insulation, airtightness, windows/doors and heating system), would be out mid October. The Department also said that Part F which deals with ventilation would be out in November 2018. The software that allows you to calculate whether you’re Part L compliant, DEAP, will be published mid December. It’s also the software that will generate your Building Energy Rating (mandatory on all new builds). UPDATES ON TIMELINES AVAILABLE HERE