stevenage.gov.uk

You are here:

Building professionals guidance sheet

The Building Regulations Part P - Electrical Safety

The Government recently amended the Building Regulations to include the safe installation or extension of electrical circuits in dwellings. Building Regulations Part P came into force on 1 January 2005 and affects any dwelling that is to have electrical work carried out. For full details it is strongly recommended that you should refer to the new Approved Document P, however the paragraphs below provide a summary.

What is the scope of Part P?

All electrical work in or around a dwelling that includes:

  1. The installation of a new circuit (major works)
  2. The addition to or modification of any circuit (minor works) in or around:

What is not included?

If you are unsure, contact Building Control on 01438 242264

What should you do?

Generally, if the work will start after 1 January 2005 and/or your Building Regulation applications are deposited after that date you need to ensure that the electrical work meets Part P both in respect of your application drawings and the work on site. This is also the case if an existing application that is rejected or approved with conditions before 1 January 2005 is commenced on or after 01 January 2005 unless the Council has confirmed in writing that all of the conditions have been satisfactorily discharged by 01 January 2005

How to comply

Option 1 - Use a Competent Person

The most satisfactory solution will be to use an electrician registered with a 'Competent Person Scheme' which allows registered electricians to design, install and certify their work in accordance with the new regulations and issue a 'Domestic Installation Certificate' to the local authority stating that compliance has been achieved.

The 'competent' electrician will have to be registered with a Government approved scheme, of which a number have already received approval. The full scope schemes include: ELECSA Ltd; NAPIT Certification Ltd; BRE Certification Ltd; British Standards Institution and NICEIC Certification Services Ltd (Contact details at the bottom of the page). There may be others that will be approved at a later date. There are several defined scope schemes for other trades who carry out a limited amount of electrical work, such as gas fitters, kitchen fitters, alarm installers electric garage door fitters, etc: CORGI; ELECSA Ltd; NAPIT Certification Ltd; NIC Certification Ltd; OFTEC Ltd. Again, there may be others approved at a later date.

Using a Competent Person is likely to be the best method to avoid possible delays in inspection and removes uncertainty from the process. It is also easier to administer for the designer, contractor and householder and avoids the necessity of arranging set time visits with Building Control's appointed agents. The Competent Person Scheme will provide notifications to Building Control in a similar manner to the existing FENSA scheme for replacement glazing and these will always be on record for use during the property conveyancing processes

Option 2 - Use a Building Control Service (Local Authority or private company)

Under the Building Act 1984 (as amended), work can only be self-certified by the competent person who carried out the work; this rules out certification by a third party other than a Building Control body or an agent appointed by them. Therefore the only alternative to the Competent Person Scheme will be to use Building Control.

In view of the anticipated workload the Council will be engaging an agent to undertake the inspection work relating to Part P only. Although we will work to minimise any delay in the inspection process, given the sheer number of inspections that will be required it is unlikely that we will be able to service all requests in the time-scales asked for by the installer.

The Part P process:

  1. At the time of deposit of the application a declaration will need to be made in the appropriate space on the application form indicating whether a Competent Person Scheme (CPS) or Building Control will be used for the Part P inspection work. It is the responsibility of the person who makes this declaration to ensure that the owner of the property understands the implications of the declaration and knows what to do. Refer to Annexe A for suitable working for this declaration.
  2. In addition, on drawings submitted with a Full Plans application a note will need to be added to indicate whether a CPS or Building Control will be used for the Part P inspections. Refer to Annexe B for suitable wording for this note.
  3. When building work starts, the builder will be asked by the Building Control Surveyor (BCS) to confirm their arrangements for the Part P inspections i.e. CPS or Building Control. If a CPS is to be used the BCS will take no further action at this point. If Building Control is to be used the BCS will make arrangements for the Council's agent to contact the builder or electrician to agree an inspection date during the first fix stage of the electrical work.
  4. The Council's agent will similarly make arrangements by negotiation with the builder/electrician for the testing of the installation once complete.
  5. Whether a CPS or Building Control has been used, when the Building Control Surveyor inspects the building upon the final inspection, he will need to receive a copy of the BS7671 certificate of installation and commissioning from the builder or electrician. If all work is complete and satisfactory and the installer has issued the BS7671 certificate, the Council will issue a Completion Certificate under the Building Regulations.
  6. During this process The Council's agent will be in regular contact with Building Control and reporting on the quality of installations to enable Building Control Surveyors to intervene with enforcement issues if appropriate. In the event that the BS7671 certificate is not provided upon completion, the Council may be required to commence enforcement proceedings against the householder and electrical installer and, in the event that a CPS was used, report the matter to the Scheme administration.
  7. If a CPS has been used, the electrical contractor will notify the Scheme administration of the installation completion, who will notify Building Control of the installation within 30 days of the completion by standard E-mail for land charges purposes.

Standalone electrical installations

It is expected that certain electrical work will be undertaken in circumstances where they are not related to any other building work, such as rewiring, installation of electrics to garden sheds, addition to an existing circuit, etc. In these cases the two options mentioned above remain applicable (CPS or Building Control). However, if the Building Control option is used there is a yellow Building Notice form that is appropriate and this should be submitted with the relevant charge for the Building Notice application, which will be taken from Table 3 of the current Scheme of Charges and based on the commercial value of the electrical work.

Building control charges

If a Competent Person Scheme is used there are no charges payable to Building Control for the electrical installation.

If the Building Control route is used there will not be any additional additional charges for inspection of electrical installations over and above the existing Table 2 charges for domestic extensions (Scheme of Charges No 5 2003), therefore the plans charge for most domestic extensions will remain at £125.00 inc VAT. Applications for stand alone electrical work (i.e. work that is not part of a wider application considered under Table 2) will continue to be considered under Table 3 Estimated cost

Useful contacts

Building Control Unit
Stevenage Borough Council
Daneshill House
Danestrete
Stevenage Borough Council
Herts
SG1 1HN
01438 242264
  
NICEIC Certification Ltd
Tel: 0800 013 0900
www.niceic.org.uk

CORGI
01256 372200
www.corgi-gas-safety.com
 
ELECSA Ltd
Tel: 0870 749 0080
www.elecsa.org.uk

OFTEC Ltd
0845 658 5080
www.oftec.co.uk
 
NAPIT Certification Ltd
0870 444 1392
www.napit.org.uk

British Standards Institution
01442 278 607
www.bsi-global.com
www.partp.co.uk
 
www.odpm.gov.uk
  

Planning and Regeneration