National Ventilation Offers Guidance on New Part F of the Building Regulations

National Ventilation, a leading UK-based ventilation manufacturer and supplier, is offering expert advice and support on the new Building Regulations, published in December 2021, to assist architects, developers and builders on their projects.

The company has a wealth of ventilation design experience and can update clients on how the new Building Regulations affect ventilation in their individual developments. Boasting a free ventilation design service aimed at developments of 100 plots or less, National Ventilation can provide a full whole-house ventilation design ensuring the system meets the latest legislation.

The new Part F (Means of Ventilation) and Part L (Conservation of Fuel and Power) of the Building Regulations are set to help the UK deliver Net Zero including a reduction of almost a third less carbon for new homes.

But as buildings become more airtight, to improve efficiency and help achieve this goal, it is crucial to consider indoor air quality (IAQ) too. The new Part F is therefore seen as an essential development since it sets out important changes which will accelerate the move towards low carbon ventilation as an industry standard while improving IAQ.

Christian Rehn, National Sales Manager at National Ventilation (pictured below), comments: “We welcome the changes to the Building Regulations and the recognition of the essential role ventilation plays in buildings.

“With MVHR being the whole-house ventilation solution of choice for new build homes, we can support architects, developers and builders in using this technology, and other solutions, to meet the Regulations with our free design service.

“Energy efficient MVHR provides excellent indoor air quality and will play a key role in meeting the requirements of the new Part F. Our design team boasts the knowledge and experience to design MHVR systems that provide effective energy efficient ventilation and comply with the latest legislation.”

For new build residential homes, the new Regulations require higher rates of ventilation to protect resident health. This means a move to more advanced ventilation solutions, such as Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) and Continuous Mechanical Extract Ventilation.

This is instead of traditional Intermittent Extract Ventilation (now referred to as Natural Ventilation in Part F), which is now only suitable for dwellings with a design air permeability higher than 5 m3/(m2·h). As a result, many new build homes will not be suitable for this technology therefore higher performing options are needed.

Here, continuous mechanical extract units that offer a 125mm diameter spigot model will be favoured by housebuilders as the larger surface area allows greater airflow through the fan at a much lower noise level and SFP meaning fewer fans are required to achieve whole house ventilation rates. 

Another important factor regarding the Building Regulations that new build developers should consider is the new 2021 edition of Part F, L and O take effect on the 15th June 2022 in England.

There is a 12-month grace period, which ends June 2023. Following this, each individual plot must follow these regulations, to comply. Historically Building Regulations applied to each site (multiple houses), this has now changed to being specifically applicable to each plot (i.e. individual houses).

This means that if a site designed to previous regulations has not started every plot by June 2023, any remaining plots would need to be redesigned to meet the 2021 edition of the Building Regulations.

Part F is also introducing improvements to ventilation in new non-residential properties to help prevent the spread of airborne viruses. The document states that in ‘locations where continuous talking or singing takes place, or there are high levels of physical activity … providing ventilation sufficient to keep CO2 levels below 800ppm is recommended’.

And an ‘Indoor Air Quality Monitoring’ sub section states that occupiable rooms in new buildings ‘should have ways of monitoring indoor air quality’ which ‘may be achieved using CO2 monitors or other means of measuring indoor air quality’. These all add up to better indoor air quality in non-residential properties.

National Ventilation’s free whole-house ventilation design service for design and build projects, aimed at architects, developers, and builders with developments of 100 plots or less, provides a full whole-house ventilation design with unit calculations, a full kit list, recommended duct routes, as well as a pre-order site visit where necessary.

The design service is also not limited to domestic solutions; they can offer the same support for commercial and industrial applications. The design team offers customers the knowledge they need on design, ventilation and regulations including the new Part L and Part F, as well as the Future Homes Standard.

They can also provide ventilation designs that fits seamlessly into a project and ensures no clashes with architect drawings, steels etc. 

To take up the free design service architects, developers and builders can go direct to the National Ventilation website, where they can upload their building drawings. Once the design team has the project’s building drawings it will then produce free professional REVIT ventilation designs for the customer.

The service will help in designing and specifying whole house ventilation, such as Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR), with National Ventilation providing a free step-by-step guide to explain the process.