The Latest Glazing Building Regulations

Approved Document B: Fire Safety
Part B focuses on guaranteeing fire safety, not only for the building’s occupants but also for other relevant parties like the Fire Service and general fire safety. Part B addresses various examples, including means of escape, such as egress hinges in first-floor windows, preventing the spread of fire with fire-rated internal glass doors and screens.

Approved Document F: Ventilation
Effective building ventilation is crucial for ensuring a healthy living space, facilitating clean air circulation, and preventing issues like condensation, mould, and illness. To ensure this, Part F: Volume 1 provides comprehensive guidance on achieving proper ventilation in domestic buildings, which includes recommendations for continuous window ventilation. This means that all new or replacement windows and doors must incorporate trickle ventilators or other suitable ventilation methods such as thermal breaks, which thwart water penetration while facilitating improved ventilation, tailored to the specific room’s requirements

Approved Document K: Protection from Impact
Part K addresses protection against falling, collision, and impact. It sets standards ensuring that all doors and low-level windows are fitted with safety glass, or toughened glass, and identifies critical areas prone to contact with glass in doors and windows. This is particularly relevant for contemporary extensions incorporating increased glass elements such as Juliet balconies, exterior glass balustrades, as well as indoor glazing applications.

Approved Document L: Energy Efficiency
Part L encompasses guidelines for replacement windows in both new and existing dwellings, offering current and future-oriented direction on energy efficiency. Volume 1 pertains to homeowners and their dwellings, while Volume 2 applies to non-dwelling structures.

Part L’s significance for windows and doors is undeniable, as it addresses factors such as heat loss reduction, air leakage prevention, insulation improvement, solar gain management, emission control, and heating and ventilation systems. Most recently, the required U-Values have been lowered compared to previous standards and are expected to decrease further in the future.

Approved Document M: Accessibility
Part M ensures that individuals with disabilities, whether their impairments are apparent or not, have the same level of access to and mobility within buildings as able-bodied individuals. Part M addresses various aspects, including facilitating easy movement throughout a building, as well as between the indoors and outdoors, with unimpeded access through doorways thanks to low or fully flush thresholds.

Approved Document O: Overheating
Part O focuses on implementing measures to remove excess heat from residential structures, particularly concerning the balance of solar gain and risk of overheating. The prevalence of features like contemporary slimline sliding doors may necessitate adjustments, such as reducing door sizes or implementing features such as solar control glass, to comply with Part O requirements.

Approved Document Q: Security
Part Q pertains to the security of windows and doors in new dwellings, emphasising the need for designs that incorporate measures to deter unauthorised access. These regulations apply universally to all dwelling types, including apartment buildings, extending to any part of the structure where access can be gained to individual properties hence why many doors and windows are already subjected to rigorous testing against various standards, such as Secured by Design, PAS24, STS201, or LPS1175.

Additionally, Document Q stipulates minimum specifications for the thickness of timber windows and doors.