Residential Projects + Building Regulation Compliance = Secure House

Over the last 12 months, we've completed several large residential projects across the UK and that means meeting (and usually exceeding!) a wide variety of building regulations to deliver truly sensational work that more than meets clients' expectations.

Here at Secure House, we have over 30 years' experience in delivering bespoke residential housing projects working alongside building contractors, architects, quantity surveyors, site managers, interior designers and, of course, the end clients themselves.

Client: Residential — Year: 2023

Building regulations relating to residential dwellings

The contractor had specified aluminium windows and doors for this particular project that we undertook in the summer. We have installed thousands of aluminium windows and doors and there are many considerations to take into account, not just overall design and finish.

Split into different Parts, we had to meet with Part L, Part Q and Part M building regulations relating to residential dwellings. Here's what each means!

Part L

Part L refers to the 'conservation of fuel and power of buildings' and is designed to ensure that buildings are energy efficient. Both doors and windows are vital to helping conserve energy within any property. A Part L compliant door or window is one that has a high thermal efficiency, often referred to as the U-value — the lower the U-value number, the more efficient the product is.

U-value

The U-value governs how much heat a surface can transfer at any period of time, measured in watts per metre² Kelvin. To meet Part L a door or window must reach 1.6W/(m²K) or less. With lots of glazing in this project, we insisted on a U-value of 0.95 to provide unrivalled efficiency throughout the development.

Part Q

Part Q is designed to 'ensure the prevention of unauthorised access to dwellings'. As such, every door or window that is installed must be able to withstand physical attack by a burglar or intruder. PAS 24 is a minimum standard in this area and all of our products exceed this. For this project our high burglary resistance Class 3 frames were used as they will protect the property from any highly skilled intruder. Every door and window is also fire compliant to FD60, meaning each door or window is designed to hold back a fire for up to 60 minutes.

Part M regulations

Finally, it goes without saying that we worked very hard to ensure that the project met Part M regulations. Part M refers to the 'ease of access to, and use of, buildings, including facilities for disabled occupants or visitors.' Wider than standard doorways and easy to use handles and locks were just some of the elements we focused on.

If you'd like more information about this project or you're planning your own residential project, please don't hesitate to contact us on 0207 8594207 or email info@secure-house.co.uk.