The Building Standards (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1996

Made: 22nd August 1996

Laid before Parliament: 14th October 1996

Coming into force: 5th November 1996

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 3, 6(1), 24(1)(b) and 29(1) of, and Schedule 4 to, the Building (Scotland) Act 1959[^f00001] and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf and, as required by section 3(6) of that Act[^f00002], having consulted the Building Standards Advisory Committee and such other bodies as appear to him to be representative of the interests concerned, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Building Standards (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 5th November 1996.

Amendment of Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990

2

• (1) The Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990[^f00003] shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraphs.

• (2) In paragraph (1) of regulation 2 (interpretation)–

• (a) in the definition of “porch”, the words “and having a roof of opaque material” shall be deleted; and

• (b) for the definition of “Technical Standards”[^f00004] there shall be substituted:–

• “Technical Standards” means the Technical Standards for compliance with the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990 issued by the Scottish Office in October 1990 as amended by the substitute pages issued by the Scottish Office in and dated July 1993[^f00005], June 1994[^f00006] and November 1996;

• (3) For paragraph (2) of regulation 25 (sanitary facilities) there shall be substituted:–

(2) This regulation shall apply to all buildings except buildings or any part of a building to which the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967 to 1979[^f00007] apply.

• (4) For Schedule 1 there shall be substituted the Schedule set out in Schedule 1 to these Regulations.

• (5) For Schedule 2 there shall be substituted the Schedule set out in Schedule 2 to these Regulations.

• (6) In Schedule 5 (rules of measurement)–

• (a) there shall be inserted at the end of paragraph 1(c)–

, and in the case of a dwelling any part of the room where the height is less than 1.5 metres

• (b) paragraph 3(c) shall be deleted;

• (c) after paragraph 3 there shall be inserted–

(3A) The height of a storey above the ground or the depth of a storey below the ground shall be taken to be the vertical height or depth as the case may be from the ground to the upper surface of the floor of the storey, and the expressions “a storey at a height” and “a storey at a depth” shall be construed accordingly.

; and

• (d) in paragraph 4, after the word “height” in each place where it occurs there shall be inserted the words “or depth”.

Application of the Regulations

3

Regulation 2 above shall not have effect in relation to–

• (a) an application for a warrant for the construction or change of use of a building which was made before the date of coming into force of these Regulations, or

• (b) an application for the extension of the period of validity or the amendment of the terms of such a warrant granted at any time in pursuance of an application made as aforesaid.

SCHEDULE 1 — SCHEDULE TO BE SUBSTITUTED FOR SCHEDULE 1 TO THE BUILDING STANDARDS (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 1990

SCHEDULE 2 — SCHEDULE TO BE SUBSTITUTED FOR SCHEDULE 2 TO THE BUILDING STANDARDS (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 1990

Signed

James Douglas-Hamilton — Minister of State, Scottish Office — 22nd August 1996

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulation)

These Regulations make further amendments to the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990. Regulation 25 is amended to apply the requirement to provide adequate sanitary facilities to all buildings except school premises, for which provision is made elsewhere. A new Schedule 1 is substituted to clarify the descriptions of some classes of exempted buildings and to expand on the exceptions to certain classes of exempted buildings, principally to ensure that buildings on land which has harmful or dangerous substances within its boundaries remain subject to the Regulations. A new Schedule 2 is substituted to include 2 further categories of fixtures not requiring a warrant, and to clarify the description of some fixtures which may be replaced. Schedule 5 is amended to clarify the rules of measurement of (a) the area of a room and of (b) height and depth (i) of a storey of a building and (ii) in circumstances where the ground is not level. The Regulations amend the definition of “Technical Standards” to allow the substitution of pages dated November 1996 in parts A, B, G, M and P of the Technical Standards. These substitutions reflect the changes made by these Regulations, update the British Standards references in parts B and P and make other minor drafting and updating changes.

The Regulations come into force on 5th November 1996 but do not apply to any construction or change of use of a building where application for warrant was made before that date.

Copies of the Technical Standards supporting the 1990 Regulations as amended are available from Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1959 c. 24; section 3(2) and (3) was amended by the Health and Safety at Work Etc. Act 1974 (c. 37) (“the 1974 Act”), Schedule 7, paragraph 1(a) and (b) respectively; section 3(4) was amended by the Housing (Scotland) Act 1986 (c. 65), section 19(2); section 3(7) was inserted by the 1974 Act, Schedule 7, paragraph 1(c); section 29(1) contains a definition of “prescribed” relevant to the exercise of the statutory powers under which these Regulations are made.

[^f00002]: Section 3(6) was substituted by the Building (Scotland) Act 1970 (c. 38), section 1.

[^f00003]: S.I. 1990/2179, amended by S.I. 1993/1457 and 1994/1266.

[^f00004]: Substituted by S.I. 1994/1266.

[^f00005]: These amendments to the Technical Standards were given effect to by S.I. 1993/1457.

[^f00006]: These amendments to the Technical Standards were given effect by S.I. 1994/1266.

[^f00007]: S.I. 1967/1199, S.I. 1973/322 and S.I. 1979/1186.

[^f00008]: 1875 c. 17 and 1923 c. 17.

[^f00009]: 1965 c. 57.

[^f00010]: 1979 c. 46; section 1 was amended by the National Heritage Act 1983 (c. 47), Schedule 4, paragraph 25.

[^f00011]: 1960 c. 62.

[^f00012]: 1897 c. 38; section 73 was amended by the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1972 (c. 58), Schedule 6, paragraph 56.

[^f00013]: S.I. 1984/467.

[^f00014]: Section 6(8) was amended by the Building (Scotland) Act 1970 (c. 38), section 3 and Schedule 1, Part I, paragraph 1(c), the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65), Schedule 15, paragraph 1 and Schedule 29, and the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1989 (c. 43), Schedule 1, Part VII.