The Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1997

• Citation: S.I. 1997/2157
• Sections: 5

Section 1 Citation and commencement

These Regulations may be cited as the Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1997 and shall come into force on 29th December 1997.

Section 2 Amendment of Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990

(1) The Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990 shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraphs.

(2) In paragraph (1) of regulation 2 (interpretation)–

(a) for the definition of “compartment” there shall be substituted:–

“compartment”, except in the expression “watercloset compartment”, means a part of a building (which may contain one or more rooms, spaces or storeys and includes, where relevant, the space above the top storey of the compartment) constructed so as to prevent the spread of fire to or from another part of the same building; and “compartmented” and “compartmentation” shall be construed accordingly;

(b) for the definitions of “compartment floor” and “compartment wall” there shall be substituted:–

“compartment floor” and “compartment wall” mean respectively a fire resistant floor and a fire resistant wall used in the separation of one compartment from another;

(c) for the definition of “gallery” there shall be substituted:–

“gallery” means a raised floor or platform, including a raised storage floor, which is open to the room or space into which it projects and which–

has every part of its upper surface not less than 1.8 metres above the surface of the main floor of the said room or space; and

occupies (or, in the cases of there being more than one gallery, together occupy) not more than one-half of the floor area of the said room or space;

(d) for the definition of “storey” there shall be substituted:–

“storey” means that part of a building which is situated between the top of any floor being the lowest floor level within the storey and the top of the floor next above it being the highest floor level within the storey or, if there is no floor above it, between the top of the floor and the ceiling above it or, if there is no ceiling above it, the internal surface of the roof; and for this purpose a gallery or catwalk, or an openwork floor or storage racking, shall be considered to be part of the storey in which it is situated;

(e) for the definition of “Technical Standards” there shall be substituted:–

“Technical Standards” means the Technical Standards for compliance with the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990 issued by the Scottish Office in October 1990, as amended by the substitute pages issued by the Scottish Office in and dated July 1993 , June 1994 , November 1996 and December 1997;

(3) In paragraph (2) of regulation 22 (conservation of fuel and power)–

(a) sub-paragraph (a)(iii) shall be deleted and there shall be substituted therefor–

(iii) are unheated or have a space heating system which is designed to give a maximum output not exceeding–

(a) for buildings of purpose groups 2 to 5, 25 watts per square metre of floor area, and

(b) for buildings of purpose groups 6 and 7, 50 watts per square metre of floor area;

(b) in sub-paragraph (d)–

(i) after the word “conservatories”, there shall be inserted the words “which are unheated,”, and

(ii) the words “and which have external access” shall be deleted; and

(c) sub-paragraph (e) shall be deleted.

(4) In regulation 23 (ventilation of buildings) paragraphs (2) and (4) shall be deleted.

(5) In Schedule 1 (exempted classes of buildings) in class 8, delete the exception in column (3) and substitute therefor–

A septic tank, or private sewerage treatment works, which is serving a building subject to regulation 24.

(6) In Schedule 2 (fixtures not requiring a warrant), in category 10, in column (2) add at the end “on a straight flight of stairs”.

Section 3 Amendment of Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1981

(1) The Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1981 shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraphs.

(2) In paragraph (1) of regulation 3(interpretation), for the definition of “Technical Standards” there shall be substituted–

“Technical Standards” means the Technical Standards for compliance with the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulation 1990 issued by the Scottish Office in October 1990, as amended by the subsequent pages issued by the Scottish Office in and dated July 1993, June 1994, November 1996 and December 1997;

(3) At the end of the Table in paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 (Table of Particulars), there shall be added–

(15) Buildings in purpose group 1, where a new dwelling is created by construction or change of use

Section 4 Amendment of Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 1981

(1) The Building (Forms) (Scotland) Regulations 1991 shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraph.

(2) At the end of paragraph 7 of Form 8 in the Schedule (Prescribed Forms), there shall be added–

[I/We also (a) confirm that the energy rating for the dwelling remains the same as that submitted with the building warrant application or (b) enclose a corrected energy rating calculation for the completed dwelling.]

Section 5 Transitional provisions

In relation to–

(a) an application for a warrant for the construction or change of use of a building which was made before the date of coming into force of these Regulations;

(b) an application for the extension of the period of validity or the amendment of the terms of such a warrant granted at any time,

the building standards regulations applicable to the building in question shall be those in force at the time the application for warrant was made and any reference in the Building (Scotland) Act 1959 to building standards regulations shall be construed accordingly.