Start building now: Part L 2014 transitional provisions are coming into force

If you pre-registered any new developments last year to take advantage of the Part L 2014 transitional provisions, now’s the time to start building. Work on your sites must start before Sunday 5 April 2015 to be exempt from the 2013 Part L uplift.

If you miss this deadline, the new standards will apply to your site. For new homes, the changes will be a 6% uplift on 2010 standards across the range of dwellings. For non-domestic buildings, the uplift will be 9% above 2010 standards. This affects only England.

Commencement of work could be any of the following:

• Excavation for strip or trench foundations or for pad footings
• Digging out and preparation of the ground for raft foundations
• Vibrofloatation (stone columns) piling, boring for piles or pile driving

Removal of vegetation or top soil, treatment of contaminated soil; demolition of any previous buildings on the site; excavation of trial holes; dynamic compaction and general site servicing works are not likely to constitute the commencement of work.

Where the registration was for a number of buildings, the commencement of work on any of these buildings will determine whether all the building work can take advantage of the transitional provisions, not each individual building.

For any further assistance or information regarding this contact your preferred local authority building control service provider. Use our free tool to find your local team.