Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

PART F Conservation of fuel and power

Application and interpretation

F1—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) this Part shall apply to any building and, where a building contains one or more dwellings, to each such dwelling separately.

(2) Regulation F2 shall not apply to—

(a) an external wall, floor or roof of any part of a dwelling which consists of—

(i) a shed or store entered solely from outside; or

(ii) a boathouse, conservatory, garage or porch;

(b) a building, other than a dwelling, which has a floor area not exceeding 30 m²; and

(c) a building or part of a building, other than a dwelling, which—

(i) in the case of a building for industrial or storage purposes – is unheated or has a space heating system with a design output rating not exceeding 50 W per square metre of floor area; or

(ii) in the case of any other building – is unheated or has a space heating system with a design output rating not exceeding 25 W per square metre of floor area.

(3) Regulation F3(2) shall not apply to—

(a) a dwelling;

(b) the common parts of a building which are intended for the exclusive use of two or more dwellings; and

(c) a building in which the floor area provided with artificial lighting does not exceed 100 m².

(4) In this Part—

• space heating system andhot water supply system do not include a system or that part of a system which heats or stores water solely for a commercial or industrial process; and

• pipes and ducts means any pipe and any duct in a space heating system or hot water supply system which is intended to carry a heated liquid or gas, and includes associated fittings.

Building fabric

F2  Reasonable provisions shall be made in the fabric of the building or, as the case may be, of the dwelling for the conservation of fuel and power.

Space heating, hot water supply and artificial lighting systems

F3—(1) Reasonable provisions shall be made in any building or, as the case may be, in any dwelling for the purposes of the conservation of fuel and power to—

(a) regulate the output of a space heating system; and

(b) limit the temperature of stored hot water in a hot water supply system,

by means of automatic controls.

(2) Artificial lighting systems used in any building or part of a building shall be so designed and constructed as to use no more fuel and power than is reasonable to provide adequate lighting according to the purposes for which the building or part is used and for this purpose reasonable provisions shall be made for controlling such systems.

Insulation of pipes, ducts and hot water storage vessels

F4  Reasonable provisions shall be made to limit the heat loss from pipes, ducts and hot water storage vessels, other than that from a pipe or duct which is designed to contribute to the space heating of the space through which it passes.

Deemed-to-satisfy provisions for regulations F2, F3 and F4

F5—(1) The requirements of regulation F2 shall be deemed to be satisfied, in the case of a building specified in column (2) of Table F opposite the reference to that regulation, if the fabric of the building is designed and constructed in accordance with the relevant provisions of the publications specified opposite thereto in column (3), as amended by the publications specified opposite thereto in column (4).

(2) The requirements of regulation F3 shall be deemed to be satisfied, in the case of a building specified in column (2) of Table F opposite the reference to that regulation, if—

(a) the space heating and hot water supply system used in the building is provided with controls in accordance with the relevant provisions of the publications specified opposite thereto in column (3), as amended by the publications specified opposite thereto in column (4); and

(b) the artificial lighting system used in the building is designed and constructed in accordance with the relevant provisions of the publications specified opposite thereto in column (3), as amended by the publications specified opposite thereto in column (4).

(3) The requirements of regulation F4 shall be deemed to be satisfied, in the case of a building specified in column (2) of Table F opposite the reference to that regulation, if the pipes, ducts and hot water storage vessels used in the building are insulated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the publications specified opposite thereto in column (3), as amended by the publications opposite thereto in column (4).