tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post6393886924225456643..comments2024-03-27T06:42:31.956+00:00Comments on Mark Brinkley (aka House 2.0): Balkanising the Building RegsMark Brinkleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03473684038478246288noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-62215864295705809112010-06-01T21:44:16.646+01:002010-06-01T21:44:16.646+01:00What you're describing is just one tiny aspect...What you're describing is just one tiny aspect of the lunacy of the devolution processes that have been going on in the last decade or so - pointless duplication of bureaucracy for its own sake.<br /><br />You can guess who's paying for all this nonsense, directly and indirectly. Hint -it's not the Scots/Welsh/N. Irish!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-41199710190280074832010-05-28T15:26:00.435+01:002010-05-28T15:26:00.435+01:00Maybe this should be seen as part of the breakup a...Maybe this should be seen as part of the breakup at last of the English Empire (which both preceded and outlived the British Empire RIP). It's typically English to believe deep down that the English way is the proper one, which the subject natives will of course kick impotently against, bless 'em. Signed Tom Foster, English to the core but mainly of Scottish blood, mother an O'Brien (Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06796325006077141917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-81153866011520925752010-05-26T18:18:14.757+01:002010-05-26T18:18:14.757+01:00Does the end user get any input to this process at...Does the end user get any input to this process at all? Maybe to decide how high he'd like the power points or maybe how hot his bathwater is? No?<br /><br />It seems to me that building regulation has become awfully authoritarian and strayed way outside what is necessary for a sound or even an energy efficient home<br /><br />How is it that we seem to have accepted that housing is now buildingstoathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547733565964401449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-15771949824222477622010-05-26T17:42:05.570+01:002010-05-26T17:42:05.570+01:00So put yourself in the position of a manufacturer ...So put yourself in the position of a manufacturer looking to produce Part L compliant kit - windows, walls, anything requiring a jig. You can just about plan for changes in advance, but then you find that Wales and Scotland have different requirements coming in on different dates. That's really helpful, isn't it?<br /><br />And put yourself in the position of an architect working across Mark Brinkleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03473684038478246288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-78802942959969147562010-05-26T17:19:40.837+01:002010-05-26T17:19:40.837+01:00Is this really a green building column lambasting ...Is this really a green building column lambasting green ambition? DCLG is full of cretins, biding away their time until retirement, and contracting out all their decision making to obsequious consultants. The Welsh Assembly have recognised this and want to move forwards and stop being shackled by idiots. <br /><br />The devolved nations are often used as a test bed for new ideas (e.g. free Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-9429410948075480552010-05-26T08:02:37.866+01:002010-05-26T08:02:37.866+01:00Tom,
You've missed my point. If Wales wants t...Tom,<br /><br />You've missed my point. If Wales wants to "leap ahead of glacial England", let it do so via incentives. Building regs are meant to be a minimum standard - and having four different sets creates nothing but confusion.Mark Brinkleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03473684038478246288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-27994424243746166932010-05-25T17:30:10.440+01:002010-05-25T17:30:10.440+01:00The changes to Building Regs that the Welsh are ta...The changes to Building Regs that the Welsh are taking on, now that they can, have substantial and valid objectives, that go far beyond provincial pride, and appear to have wide support which is lacking in olde England. It's strange that, in this 'greenish' column, everyone's overlooking the Welsh determination to 'go green' as fast as possible and not be held back by Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06796325006077141917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-77508051160357958152010-05-24T22:27:16.286+01:002010-05-24T22:27:16.286+01:00This is slightly depressing, but not really surpri...This is slightly depressing, but not really surprising. Politics is about power and devolved politics is about exercising devolved power. I suppose to the policos in Cardiff the Building Regs are as good an opportunity as any.<br /><br />But there is another sense in which Building Regs have got closer to politics. At one time they were uncontroversial and essentially about function. For example,buildingstoathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547733565964401449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-5144060746924075152010-05-24T13:55:33.054+01:002010-05-24T13:55:33.054+01:00Ideally, yes pan-European building regulations wou...Ideally, yes pan-European building regulations would be a good idea. However, actually making the change would be a nightmare, I fear.<br /><br />If things worked sensibly then the result would be the intersection of the existing rules - after all, if a rule wasn't obviously necessary in Bavaria then why would it be necessary in the Highlands? From what I've observed of similar Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-30907499164859301872010-05-24T12:47:34.388+01:002010-05-24T12:47:34.388+01:00This is the best blog post I've read from you ...This is the best blog post I've read from you Mark and on a subject dear to my heart. <br /><br />Devolved nationalist control of Building Regulations is nothing more than idiotic when you look at the bigger picture. <br /><br />The reasons regs are devolved seem to me to be:<br /> - Self promotion of certain industry figures within Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; and<br /> - Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12720267800980755091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-75766375952144318912010-05-24T10:47:27.859+01:002010-05-24T10:47:27.859+01:00I think Pan European Building Regulations is so fa...I think Pan European Building Regulations is so far out of the realm of do-able that even the Lib Dems would not be in favour of it. :)<br /><br />But I do agree on the UK - it makes sense to get together and come up with a unified system.<br /><br />The annoying thing that I've found is that here in Scotland the building regulations aren't published in the same way they are in England. commentorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10321173541321374705noreply@blogger.com