New Building Regulations - EV Charging points

The new regulations aim to improve the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and encourage the use of electric vehicles to support the Government’s ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles from 2030.

The Building Regulations 2010 have been amended by the introduction of Part S which requires the installation of EV charging points in the following circumstances:

• New residential homes. Every home with onsite parking must have its own charging point.
• New Residential Buildings with parking in a covered car park must have a charging point for each dwelling with a parking space.
• Buildings converted for residential use (eg offices converted to flats) and which have a car park must have a charging point for each dwelling with a parking space.
• Residential buildings undergoing major renovation work which will have more than 10 parking spaces – must have one charging point for the use of each dwelling and cable routes for all other parking spaces.
• New non-residential buildings with more than 10 parking spaces must have a minimum of 1 charging point and cable routes for at least one fifth of the remaining spaces.
• Mixed use buildings - the requirements for residential buildings above and non-residential buildings above will apply. This will require calculations based on the number of parking spaces designated for use by the respective classes of occupant.

The full requirements can be found here.

Implications

Developers will need to consider the requirement to provide charging points and give thought to where the charging points and related infrastructure are located at an early stage in their development design.

Thought will also need to be given to the management structure for the development in light of the additional requirements where parking spaces with the charging points are situated within communal land. Consideration will need to be given to separately metering the electricity supply along with the repair and maintenance obligations and the imposition of rules/regulations regarding the use of and payment for charging points.  The overhead costs of maintaining and managing EV facilities so far as it cannot be recouped from users, will no doubt represent a general communal expense of a development and be included in service charge bills.

Please speak with Sarah Webb should you have any further queries.

Boyes Turner’s Development & House Building Team acts for developers, house builders, promoters, land traders landowners and investors involved in all type and size of residential, commercial and mixed use schemes. We also advise a range development and property funding partners including traditional high street banks, specialist development financiers and mezzanine funders in respect of lending for development projects.

Our Team includes one of the Thames Valley's few specialist Plot sales teams, enabling us to offer an end-to-end service throughout the life cycle of a development project.