Part P

What is Part P?

Part P is a brand new part of the Building Regulations for England and Wales. The amendment to the regulations was laid before Parliament in July 2004, and the new requirements have come into effect from 1 January 2005.

From this date, all electrical installation work in dwellings, that’s generally houses and flats, has become a ‘controlled service’ under the Building Regulations.

This means that, for the first time, the technical standard of electrical installation work in dwellings in England and Wales will become subject to statutory requirements.

These requirements will apply not only to new construction, but also to any alterations or additions to existing installations, including full or partial rewires.

What effect will Part P have?

There are estimated to be about 61,000 electrical contracting firms involved in domestic electrical installation work in England and Wales. About 50,000 of these firms are not registered with any existing competence assessment schemes recognized for self-certification purposes

A large proportion of these firms are therefore expected to seek assessment to enable them to self-certify work, as the alternative of inspection by Building Control does not seem to be commercially viable in the long term. However, there may be another 150,000 or more firms that undertake domestic electrical work in support of their main activity, such as gas installers and kitchen and bathroom installers, that may be subject to Part P

For further information regarding training and seminars to expand on this subject, refer to our training pages.

Update

Following the recent seminars, a number of questions were raised regarding Part P. We have tried to answer as many of these as possible in the following section:

There was concern from the Registered Contractors present, that Certification bodies (Scheme Providers) were not providing the opportunity for their Client, who is not the occupier of the dwelling where the installation was undertaken, to be advised that Building Control had been notified and moreover, that the installation in question complied with Regulations 4 and 7 of the Building Regulations. This was particularly appropriate to Housing Officers of Local Authorities or Housing Association Representatives.

Certification Bodies have assured Graham Wretham that such a provision now exists and that the Registered Contractor now has a number of options with regard to the notification route to Building Control, via the Scheme Provider. The Registered Contractor can now choose whether or not:

1. Only the occupier (householder) is advised that Building Control have been notified and that the installation complies with Regulations 4 and 7 of the Building Regulations, or

2. Only the owner of the property is advised that Building Control have been notified and that the installation complies with Regulations 4 and 7 of the Building Regulations,, as is the case for Local Authoritiers and Associations, or

3. Both parties are advised that Building Control have been notified and that the installation complies with Regulations 4 and 7 of the Building Regulations.

Registered Contractors will now be aware of these options if they are using the web based route of informing their Scheme provider.

Registered Electrical Contractors are obliged to comply with the requirements of all Building Regulations which includes, amongst
other things, the requirements to provide adequate disabled access to the electrical installation as described in Part M.

Part M requires sockets, switches and other control gear to be installed at heights that are suitable, and usable to disabled occupants of the
dwellings. On new build installations there is no concession to this requirement and Architects, Builders and Electrical Installers are required to comply with the mounting height requirements of Part M. However, on rewires to existing buildings, the installer may, if the client insists upon it, install such equipment at differing (lower) heights provided that the installation still complies with BS 7671 and is considered no less safe than the previous installation.

Also, it has been asked whether or not Christmas lights installed during the yuletide period should come within the scope of Part P and undertaken by a prescibed competent person or notified to Building Control. It is considered that such lighting installation is merely the provision of electrical equipment which is plugged into the fixed electrical installation.
Accordingly, such equipment is not therefore within the scope of Part P and will not need to be installed by a prescibed competent person or notified to Building Control.