Building regulations - proposed changes to energy and environmental standards: stage 2 consultation and BRIA

2 Consultation

2.1 Development phase

Before making or amending building regulations, Scottish Ministers are required, under Section 1(2) of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003, to consult “such persons as appear to them to be representative of the interests concerned”.

Prior to public consultation on the proposed changes to regulations, this duty is discharged through the development of proposals by a Departmental Working Group, comprising of officials and representatives of industry, together with communication with other parts of Government and bodies representing organisations of the construction industry. This is intended to provide assurance that proposals are proofed against considerations previously identified above.

In 2023, Scottish Ministers approved a Departmental Working Group to consider amendments to building regulations in respect of taking on the effect of Mr Rowley’s final bill proposal. Along with government officials, the Working Group included members of local authority verifiers, designers, building services engineers, energy modellers, academia and private sector organisations representing the commercial and domestic sector

Over four meetings between June 2023 and July 2024 alongside seven technical industry workshops, this group helped shape the development of proposals for the July 2024 stage one consultation. Working Group members and wider industry stakeholders have been actively engaged in the review process to date. Further meetings of the Working Group during the stage one consultation period were undertaken to develop a consensus paper which has, alongside consultation responses, informed the second stage of the review.

The stage one consultation activity ran from 31 July 2024 to 23 October 2024 and received a total of 350 responses. Of the 350 responses received, 64 instructed that their responses should not be published. Of these 64 responses, 25 were from individuals and 39 from organisations. Accordingly, following final quality assurance checks, 290 consultation responses were published via the consultation webpage alongside the full consultation analysis and report.

Following the review and consideration of responses to the July 2024 consultation, regulations amending the Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 were laid on 12 December 2024. These introduce a requirement for developers to provide an “energy and environmental design statement” with building warrant applications and an “energy and environmental construction statement” with each completion certificate. These statements will describe how the design and construction of the building complies with paragraphs 3.13, 3.14, 3.28, 6.1 to 6.7, 6.10, 7.1 and 7.2 of schedule 5 of the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

The focus of review activity through 2025 and 2026, through additional Working Group meetings, and wider stakeholder engagement has been to agree proposals for a stage two consultation on the changes and introduction of requirements and processes within guidance to the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (as amended) and the Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (as amended). Changes under consideration are to introduce updates within Scottish building regulations and supporting guidance to define a Scottish equivalent to the Passivhaus standard.

2.2 Within Government

BSD has a network of stakeholder organisations with an interest in building regulations. Government organisations and departments with a policy interest in proposals are contacted in respect of these proposals and consultation documents are made available to these bodies.

This includes direct contact and discussion with the following during the development phase. This ensures that the implications of options on other policy areas is clearly understood and that proposals are developed with an awareness of similar or related work elsewhere within the UK:

• Scottish Government Directorate General Communities and External Affairs
• Scottish Government Directorate General Net Zero
• Building Regulations, Wales
• Building Regulations, Northern Ireland
• Building Regulations, England (Building Safety Regulator)
• Building Regulations, England (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
• Building Regulations, England (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government)

2.3 Public consultation

As indicated above stage one consultation activity ran from 31 July 2024 to 23 October 2024 and received a total of 350 responses.

This Partial Impact Assessment forms part of a package issued alongside the stage two consultation. This consultation seeks comments on proposals to changes within Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 and guidance to the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004 and the introduction of guidance in support of the Building (Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 as amended in December 2024.

Notification of the consultation is issued to a list of individuals and organisations previously identified as having an interest in building standards.

The full consultation package will be published on the Scottish Government website for a period of 12 weeks.

2.4 Business consultation

While changes to building regulations affect any party who chooses to build a new building or carry out new building work to an existing building, such changes have the most significant impact on parties involved in the delivery of such building work for example; designers, developers, contractors; and manufacturers of building products.

Businesses have been represented on the Department Working Group through the development phase of this consultation and have also been represented on a range of themed industry workshops through Autumn/Winter 2023.

Further views of businesses, on the principles for regulation, were sought as part of the stage one consultation. This stage two consultation will continue engagement with businesses on the technical and financial implications of the proposed changes on Scottish firms.

Engagement will continue through 2026 as the second consultation is launched.