A change in the Building Regulations means that manufacturers and installers who are unable to demonstrate that the products they are supplying meet PAS24:2012, will be locked out of the new build market with immediate effect.
Changes to the Building Regulations, making PAS24:2012 or Secured by Design the minimum standards for window and door security in all new homes, were rubber-stamped by parliament at the end of March.
This will mean that anyone who is unable to demonstrate that the product that they are supplying meets requirements under the new Building Regulations, will be immediately locked out of the new build sector.
Ian Longbottom, managing director of Sliders UK, warned that many manufacturers and installers had ‘slept-walked’ into regulatory change and could pay a significant price, for doing so. He said:
“We welcome the new regulations as driving higher standards in home security and increased professionalism within our industry. What is less positive is that the industry has been slow to recognise the impact of these changes.
“There are manufacturers and installers who have slept-walked into change and as something which has the potential to close both out of the new build sector, the ramifications are huge, unless they now urgently review their supply chain.”
The Building Regulations &c. (Amendment) Regulations 2015 became law on the 27 March and follows what was meant to have been widespread consultation on the Housing Standard Review.
This closed in November 2014 and critically, as the foundation for regulatory changes, it recommended that water efficiency, accessibility and security should be nationally defined and assessed under Building Control, not by planners or funders.
Approved Document Q of the Second HSR Consultation (now ‘Part Q Security’ of the Building Regulations) states that ‘doorsets should be manufactured to a design which has been shown to meet the requirements of PAS24:2012 or be designed and manufactured to meet the requirements of PAS24 . . . doorsets demonstrating compliance with the police ‘Secured by Design initiative will also meet the provisions of this Approved Document.’
The amendment to Building Regulations applies immediately but will not be enforced until the autumn.
Ian concluded:
“We have always seen security as the critical factor in our product range irrespective of the market they’re in, offering an SBD composite, bi-fold or inline-sliding door, delivers immediate commercial advantage.
“But now there is a real regulatory driver towards PAS24:2012 products and that is going to deliver a step-change in the industry’s approach.”
For more information contact sales@sliders-uk.com or visit www.sliders-uk.com
