Conservation of Fuel and Power Building Regulations (L1A)

Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions Approved Document L1 2002 Edition. (Into effect 1 April 2002.)

Conservation of Fuel and Power in Dwellings Extracted pages 17 & 18

Internal lighting and External lighting fixed to the building

Internal Lighting

1.54 Reasonable provision should be made for dwelling occupiers to obtain the benefits of efficient lighting.

A way of showing compliance with the requirement would be to provide at a reasonable number of locations, where lighting can be expected to have most use, fixed lighting (comprising either basic lighting outlets or complete luminaires) that only take lamps having a luminous efficacy greater than 40 lumens per circuit-watt.

Circuit-watts means the power consumed in lighting circuits by lamps and their associated control gear and power factor correction equipment.

Examples of lamps that achieve this efficacy include fluorescent tubes and compact fluorescent lamps (not GLS tungsten lamps with bayonet cap or Edison screw bases).

Table 4 – Method for determining the number of locations to be equipped as a reasonable provision for efficient lighting

Number of rooms created (1) Recommended minimum number of locations (2)
1-3 1
4-6 2
7-9 3
10-12 4
Notes
(1) Hall, stairs and landing(s) count as one room (but may contain more than one fitting)
(2) Excludes garages, lofts and outhouses

1.55 Guidance on identifying suitable locations for efficient lighting is given in General Information Leaflet GIL 203#1. A way of establishing how many locations to equip for efficient lighting would be to follow the recommendations in Table 4.

1.56 When considering reasonable provision for lighting, for a new dwelling with an integral conservatory, the conservatory should be counted as a room. In other cases, the conservatory can be excluded from the method in Table 4.

External lighting fixed to the building

1.57 External lighting includes lighting in porches, but not lighting in garages and carports. When providing external lighting, reasonable provision should be made to enable effective control and/or the use of efficient lamps.

A way of showing compliance when providing external lighting would be to install systems that:

a) automatically extinguish when there is enough daylight, and when not required at night;

or

b) have sockets that can only be used with lamps having an efficacy greater than 40 lumens per circuit Watt (such as fluorescent or compact fluorescent lamp types, and not GLS tungsten lamps with bayonet cap or Edison screw bases).