NEWS - HEADLINES

Building Sciences and RSK join forces

Building Sciences has over 20 years experience in the design and construction of low air leakage buildings. In January 2008 the company was acquired by the RSK Group, the UK's largest privately owned multi-disciplinary environmental consultancy with over 900 staff over 40 worldwide locations.

Our consultancy and testing services continue to be used by all within the construction chain from end-user organisations to designers and contractors. Managing Director Stuart Borland said "This merger will broaden our knowledge base and increase the variety of services that we are able to offer in the future".

13/03/2008

Government plans for green homes

Gordon Brown’s Pre Budget Report showed the administration's ambition to ensure that all new homes will eventually be zero carbon, by planning to exempt the majority of such homes from stamp duty from 2007.

In addition, communities secretary Ruth Kelly has promised that new guidance on planning and climate change will support the government's overall drive to reduce carbon emissions.

These combined initiatives come hot on the heels of the publication of a list of Accredited Construction Details , designed to assist housebuilders hit new targets under Part L of the Building Regulations (2006).

PDF format diagrams of these details can be downlaoded from the government's Planning Portal website (follow the link provided).

11/12/2006

DCLG Discussion Forum

Recognising that there are some issues with the existing system of building regulation, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is running an online discussion forum focussing on Achieving Building Standards.

The forum was launched in support of a wider review of the Building Regulations and is expected to help in identifying what might be done to improve things.

The questions being addressed are as follows:

• Are building standards regulating for the right things in the right way?

• Are these standards being achieved, and if not is there anything stopping them from being enforced?

• What helps people to comply with them?

• What stops people from complying with them?

• How could we improve compliance and why will this work?

Input from all interested parties is welcome and the forum will be open until December 13th 2006. Access is through the DCLG website, under Building Regulations, or simply follow the link provided.

DCLG Online Discussion Forum

07/11/2006

Building Sciences Leaks Advice

As of April 2006 more building types than ever before are required to undergo post completion testing to comply with the amended Building Regulations. For contractors and designers wishing to take some of the pain out of air leakage testing, Building Sciences’ consultants have again shared their expertise in print.

The April edition of Building Services Journal carried the last in a series of four articles on air tightness compiled by our test team, entitled “Don’t Blow Your Air Test”. If you missed out, the complete series is freely available in the archive of BSJ’s website, www.bsjonline (once a brief registration procedure has been completed).

Building Sciences remains committed to assisting the construction industry with Building Regulation compliance matters of all kinds, particularly to Parts L and E. Download our new brochure and check the website for 2006 updates soon.

09/05/2006

Designed for L-ife

The recent Architect’s Journal seminar, entitled Part L Compliance: Clarification NOT Speculation, brought government representatives and industry professionals from across the country together to make presentations on compliance with changes to Part L of The Building Regulations. The all-day event was put on to provide information to architects and designers keen to face the challenges involved in designing for energy efficiency.

Building Sciences MD, Stuart Borland, who made a presentation on air-leakage testing, said; “There was an awful lot of interest in air testing, many people asked questions after the presentations and we were just as busy discussing the issues between speakers. It is clear that the changes will have quite some impact on the way designers will have to think, from the outset of the design process, to get a good result. But the interest is clearly there so we have to make sure the information is easily available.”

Text from the presentations is due to be uploaded for web access by delegates, details will appear here as soon they become available. Building Sciences also offers a full range of consultancy and testing services for all kinds of projects, feel free to contact us using the link provided.

13/01/2006

New Year's Revolutions

On April 6th 2006 the long awaited revisions to Part L of the Building Regulations will finally come into force and all new buildings will have to be tested for air-tightness, with the permeability of the envelope being no greater than the standard 10m3/(hr/m2)@50Pa.

Currently tests are required on all buildings classified as non-dwellings with a footprint of 1000m2 or more. To this will be added sample testing of a proportion of new-build dwellings and energy upgrades, where feasible, when buildings of 1000m2 or more are refurbished.

Existing dwellings were to be similarly upgraded on refurbishment but the provision for this was withdrawn by the government earlier this year. Instead the ODPM has announced that it will be leading a review in the Spring of 2006, in conjunction with HM Treasury, DTI and DEFRA, to identify measures to increase the sustainability of existing dwellings.

One outcome of the new regulations will be to place an emphasis on building control to assess a building's as-built performance. This will lead to an increase in the need for post-completion testing. There are also deeper implications for the industry. For example, if a scheme's as-built performance is to come close to meeting its on-paper spec, designers and contractors will have to ensure the quality of designs and workmanship as never before.

The ODPM’s Ted King underlined the point at a recent conference saying, "We've got to reinvent the clerk of works role,” adding that, “Engineers have got to be involved in a design at the earliest opportunity.”

Building Sciences Ltd offers comprehensive consultancy and testing services to assist with Part L compliance. Please feel free to contact us using the details provided on this website.

23/12/2005

Taking the Pressure Out of Air Leakage Testing

It is fair to say that air leakage testing is often approached, particularly by contractors, with a degree of trepidation - when ensuring the air-tightness of a building envelope should almost be a foregone conclusion. Yet it is suprisingly common to be asked by contractors at tests what actually constitutes the air barrier, when it should really be the other way round. At times like this, when the mastic guns come out in force, it can feel like ‘tidying up on the Titanic’.

Fortunately for those new to the burgeoning demands of energy conservation in construction, or those simply wishing to make their air leakage test as painless an experience as possible, the December edition (2005) of CIBSE’s Building Services Journal contains an article by our own Simon Lloyd explaining how to get it right when building for air-tightness.

Air Traffic Controls is the third in a series of four articles by Building Sciences consultants on the subject, the fourth – on testing for air-tightness – will be out in the new year and will contain a list of all the most common problems encountered by our consultants over the years.

These practical, down-to-earth guides can be downloaded by registered users (registration is free) from the BSJ website.

22/12/2005

UKAS accredition for Sound Insulation Testing

Building Sciences Ltd is now able to increase the professional services that it offers the building industry after achieving UKAS Accreditation for Sound Insulation Testing. We are now fully accredited for preforming Pre-Completion Sound Insulation Tests in accordance with BS EN ISO 140-4:1998, BS EN ISO 140-7:1998 and Part E of the Building Regulations.

20/09/2004