The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not currently have any plans to bring conservatories under full ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Regulations. This was confirmed recently by Yvette Cooper on the Radio 4 Today programme.

She stated: ‘Conservatories have not been included in the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Regulations for about 25 years, and its true that we don't have proposals to include conservatories in full-blown ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Regulations. It is quite a cumbersome process for relatively minor works, but what we are doing is looking far more widely at what is the best way to improve the energy efficiency of the whole house, what new measures might be appropriate what might make a difference. When you look at the overall impact of what we are doing, which is not only increasing the energy efficiency of new homes, there is a very great impact on existing homes as well.'

The Today programme interviewer then asked the Minister ‘If somebody with an old home, wants to put a conservatory on it, did you look at improving the energy efficiency or putting some restrictions, have given up on this?'

Yvette Cooper responded, ‘The position of conservatories was looked at about five years ago and it is different from the position of new extensions, new buildings and new major works. And you have to think before looking at existing homes - the biggest thing you can do to help existing homes is things like offer incentives for putting in insulation, sorting out your loft, and as a result of the new duty on energy companies 10 million households over the last three years have had energy saving measures introduced, That is a way in which you can have a really big impact.'

This approach from Government is very encouraging. The Glass & Glazing Federation says that the additional costs and bureaucracy for bringing all conservatories under Local ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Control would push the costs up substantially and would deter some consumers from building a conservatory. However, there are several groups lobbying against this approach.

We don’t have proposals to include conservatories in full-blown ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ Regulations

The GGF's Conservatory Association is currently preparing the Guide to Best Practice in the Specification and installation of Conservatories within the United Kingdom. This document will be covering all the design and construction criteria required for erecting a conservatory and will cover the thermal performance requirements.

Anybody who wishes to comment on the draft best practice guide should contact Giles Willson at the GGF by e-mail: gwillson@ggf.org.uk

Drafts of the guide are posted on the Conservatory Association Bulletin Board which is found within the Members area of the GGF website

Source

Glass Age