THE APPROVED DOCUMENTS

The Building Regulations 1991 (SI 1991 No 2768) have been amended by the Building Regulations (Amendment) Regulations 1994 (SI 1994 No 1850). This document is one of a series that has been approved by the Secretary of State as practical guidance on meeting the requirements of Schedule 1 and regulation 7 of the Building Regulations.

At the back of this document is a list of those documents currently published by the Department of the Environment and the Welsh Office which have been approved for the purpose of the Building Regulations 1991.

The detailed provisions contained in the Approved Documents are intended to provide guidance for some of the more common building situations, in other circumstances, alternative ways of demonstrating compliance with the requirements may be appropriate.

Evidence supporting compliance

There is no obligation to adopt any particular solution contained in an Approved Document if you prefer to meet the relevant requirement in some other way. However, should a contravention of a requirement be alleged then, if you have followed the guidance in the relevant Approved Documents, that will be evidence tending to show that you have complied with the Regulations. If you have not followed the guidance, then that will be evidence tending to show that you have not complied. It will then be for you to demonstrate by other means that you have satisfied the requirement.

Other requirements

The guidance contained in an Approved Document relates only to the particular requirements of the Regulations which that document addresses. The building work will also have to comply with the requirements of any other relevant paragraphs in Schedule 1 to the Regulations. There are Approved Documents which give guidance on each of the other requirements in Schedule 1 and on regulation 7.

LIMITATION ON REQUIREMENTS

In accordance with regulation 8, the requirements in Parts A to K and N of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations do not require anything to be done except for the purpose of securing reasonable standards of health and safety for persons in or about the building.

MATERIALS AND WORKMANSHIP

Any building work which is subject to requirements imposed by Schedule 1 of the Building Regulations should, in accordance with regulation 7, be carried out with proper materials and in a workmanlike manner.

You may show that you have complied with regulation 7 in a number of ways, for example, by the appropriate use of a product bearing an EC mark in accordance with the Construction Products Directive (89/1 06/EEC), or by following an appropriate technical specification (as defined in that Directive), a British Standard, a British Board of Agrément Certificate, or an alternative national technical specification of any member state of the European Community which, in use, is equivalent. You will find further guidance in the Approved Document supporting regulation 7 on materials and workmanship.

Technical specifications

Building Regulations are made for specific purposes: health and safety, energy conservation and the welfare and convenience of disabled people. Standards and technical approvals are relevant guidance to the extent that they relate to these considerations. However, they may also address other aspects of performance such as serviceability or aspects which although they relate to health and safety are not covered by the Regulations.

When an Approved Document makes reference to a named standard, the relevant version of the standard is the one listed at the end of the publication. However, if this version of the standard has been revised or updated by the issuing standards body, the new version may be used as a source of guidance provided it continues to address the relevant requirements of the Regulations.

The Secretary of State has agreed with the British Board of Agrément on the aspects of performance which it needs to assess in preparing its Certificates in order that the Board may demonstrate the compliance of a product or system which has an Agrément Certificate with the requirements of the Regulations. An Agrément Certificate issued by the Board under these arrangements will give assurance that the product or system to which the Certificate relates, if properly used in accordance with the terms of the Certificate, will meet the relevant requirements.

Similarly, the appropriate use of a product which complies with a European Technical Approval as defined in the Construction Products Directive will also meet the relevant requirements.