SNIPEF

Release of new Building Standards Technical handbooks

The Scottish Government has released new versions of the domestic and non-domestic technical handbooks. The technical handbooks provide guidance on how to comply with the mandatory building standards. The release of the handbooks has also seen an update in some of the supporting guidance, particularly the Building Service Compliance Guide for Scotland, which is focused on the requirements of heating systems within buildings. 

For plumbing and heating, there is a particular focus on the requirements of heating systems in new builds and existing buildings. The domestic guidance requires all new heating systems to be designed to have a maximum mean water temperature of 50°C and a maximum delta T (ΔT) of 10°C. This is not a requirement for combustion appliance changeovers in existing buildings. However, new combustion appliances such as gas boilers are required to be provided with either flue gas heat recovery, weather compensation, load compensation or a smart programmer with optimisation where reasonably practicable.

This guidance came into effect on 1 February 2023 and is applicable to:

• Any work subjected to a building warrant on or after 1 February 2023
• Work not subject to building warrant started on or after 1 February 2023

Note: Where work is not subject to a building warrant and the contract was entered into before 1 February 2023, but work had not started by that time and will be completed by 31 May 2023, the previous technical guides and supporting guidance can still be applied.

For more information, visit Building standards - gov.scot