We understand that the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) are undertaking a review of the Building Regulations which may have wide ranging implications following the Grenfell disaster however, it appears unlikely that there will be a change to Part L outside of the overall review of building regulations. Changes in Part L are not anticipated in the short term given that the drivers from the European Union are less of a priority following Brexit.
The government has however recently consulted on SAP 2016, which includes a number of potential changes. Possibly most notable is the change to the carbon factors. We are currently awaiting the outcome of the consultation and at this point we do not know when the next version of SAP is to be introduced, or what it will contain. However, we are aware that our accreditors are planning for autumn 2018 update and their next SAP software product will be ready for this time. It is likely therefore that SAP 2018 may be released late 2018.
Element Sustainability will continue to monitor the changes to the SAP software and advise our clients of the implications in terms of compliance with Part L that these revisions will have.