Part (L) Compliance

When building a new house in Ireland, you must obtain Planning Permission from your Local Authority / County Council and you must comply with all parts of the Building Regulations.

With regard to Part (L), which relates to energy performance, a proportion of the energy consumption of all new houses must be derived from renewable technologies. You must have some form of technology or combination of technologies such as solar panels, heat pumps (typically Geothermal or Air source), wood burning stove etc., to be compliant.

Other forms of renewable technologies which are also becoming more popular are wind turbines and Solar PV (Photovoltaic) panels, for electricity production.

We can advise our clients clearly and competently on how to best achieve compliance with Part (L) in as cost effective a way as possible with a technology or mix of technologies.

If you take into account that the current Part (L) demands that the dwelling is 60% more efficient that the 2005 regulations, you will realise that anyone building now has a much greater challenge.

However, building a house to the current Part (L) requirements results in a dwelling which is significantly more comfortable and will use much less energy, so annual energy bills will be much reduced.

The calculation to prove compliance with Part (L) is through Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland’s (SEAI) Dwelling Energy Assessment Procedure (DEAP), which indicates the BER of the new dwelling and clearly demonstrates compliance or non compliance with the key parameters.  At the end of the calculation, compliance with the Renewables requirement and  the permissible Energy and Carbon Energy co-efficients.

It is important to remember that every dwelling built has to be proven compliant, especially with the introduction of the new Building Control Act in March 2014. We can prove compliance for a new dwelling, before construction starts. It is too late and too expensive to start making changes once the house is under construction.

At any stage during the planning process, the local Building Control Officer may request a Provisional BER and / or the Part L Specification report, to show compliance with the building regulations.

We can provide all this information, including the Provisional BER certificate, Part L Report and the Dwelling Details Report, which can be provided to prospective Builders / Suppliers to show the U-values of floors, walls & roofs, window specifications, heating system efficiency and a range of other information that has to be complied with.

As an independent consultant we work with our customers at the pre-construction and during construction stages, as any change of material or supplier must be carefully considered so that it is taken into account, as this may affect the final results.

Contact us now before you start to build and let us save you time, money and a stress free time during the building of your dream home !