Save the dates: 21st and 28th April to share your views on adding aspects of the previous Sustainable Buildings National Planning Policy into the Building Regulations in Wales.

The Building Regulations control certain types of building work and ensure that buildings meet certain standards of health, safety, welfare, convenience and sustainability. We want to improve the aspects of sustainability of buildings in Wales through the Building Regulations.

On Thursday 21st April in Cardiff and Thursday 28th April Llandudno the Welsh Government will be presenting details of its current Building Regulations Sustainability Review consultation, which contains proposals for:

This consultation contains proposals for:

• changes to Part G – Sanitation, Hot Water Safety and Water Efficiency
• the introduction of Part Q - Residential Security Part Q – Unauthorised access
• non mandatory guidance on the content and presentation of information to householder for new dwellings
• changes to the Approved Documents.

The North and South Wales events will be an opportunity to gain a clear understanding of the consultation proposals and a full agenda will follow shortly. The consultation closes on the 24th May 2016 http://goo.gl/pmWxQC

How to Book: This event is free of charge but you must register in advance.

To reserve your place please email CEWales Events stating your full contact details and the names of all delegates wishing to attend.

Crossrail has launched a knowledge-sharing website to spread lessons learned during its construction with the wider industry. 

Welsh ambitions to embark upon some landmark infrastructure schemes will benefit from the learning passed on by the new knowledge sharing web site set up by Crossrail. Its Learning Legacy initiative will share good practice on a wide range of topics, including Health & Safety, Project Management, Engineering and the Environment. 

The reaction this week has been very positive with a lot of exchanges of information via social media and strong support from groups such as the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE).

The first tranche of material shares some of the early lessons that have been learned from the Crossrail programme.

It includes technical papers, peer-reviewed case studies and procedures, which have been published on a dedicated website here. Further material will be published every six months during the rest of the project.

Andrew Wolstenholme, Crossrail Chief Executive, said: “Passing on the lessons and good practice that we have learned at Crossrail is an absolutely essential part of raising the bar in the delivery of major projects.

“With an unprecedented number of infrastructure schemes around the corner, now is the time to start sharing what we have learned so the UK can build on its reputation for delivering safely, on time and on budget.”

Do you know how to install ventilation systems properly? The Zero Carbon Hub has done some research and guess what? Ventilation isn’t specified right or installed right.

The Zero Carbon Hub visited 33 dwellings across 6 construction sites in 2015 to see how effectively their mechanical ventilation systems were designed, installed, commissioned and handed over to occupants.

In summary, the ZCH team found things going wrong at multiple stages of the construction process at every site. The cumulative effect of these issues ultimately outweighed any good practice, as the systems they tested showed significant under-performance. At 5 of the 6 sites, fans were operating at only half the required duty or lower, i.e. flow rates were far too low.

The end result was that nearly all of the 13 occupants interviewed by the team across the sites had turned off their ventilation systems, finding them too noisy, especially at night. If systems are turned off, they are not doing their job. The air quality in the property will be compromised, with potentially serious consequences for the health of occupants.

The need to address such process-related issues is pressing. In highly efficient, airtight homes, reliance on accidental air leakage through leaky walls and windows no longer provides a safety net. It is essential that ventilation systems are designed, installed, commissioned and handed over to occupants in accordance with Building Regulations.

In common with other recent studies, our findings show that despite the availability of good practice guidance and training from Government departments, commercial companies, trade associations and professional bodies, minimum ventilation rates are still not being achieved in practice by the systems reviewed. The critical question is, why?

Consumers are acutely aware of the consequences of something going wrong with their boiler or with their electrical wiring, for example. The effects can be fatal.

It is time to borrow thinking used to improve issues with gas and electrical safety and apply similarly stringent frameworks in the ventilation sector. Failing ventilation systems may be less noticeably and immediately dangerous, but the effects over time are certainly not benign.

Look out for news of a CEW event soon to look at how to improve ventilation across Wales.