Miscellaneous Regulations
Builders’ skips
Permission from the local authority before placing a skip on a road. A skip supplier or builder you must obtain a licence, permit or written consent from the local authority and comply with the conditions of the permission in order to place a skip on the public road
The builder must; make sure the skip is not larger than five by two metres; must mark and light the skip by placing traffic cones, reflective markings and/or yellow lamps on each corner as appropriate; must not block surface water drainage of the road or block access to any manhole, fire hydrant or similar device; must not put or allow to be put in the skip any inflammable, explosive, noxious, dangerous, or putrfiable materials or any material likely to become a nuisance; must not allow the skip contents to fall onto the road or dust to be released from the skip; must remove or empty the skip as soon as possible and within two working days of it being filled; must leave the road where the skip was placed in a clean and tidy condition after it is removed; must not leave the skip on the road after the permission period has expired and must immediately make good any damage to the road from the skip.
Self-certification schemes for electricians and gas fitters
A professional electrician or gas fitter, who is competent in his field of work, can qualify to self certify that his work complies with Building Regulations without the need to submit a building notice. To qualify for the scheme, either as a company or an individual, the person or firm must be vetted to ensure competence.
There are two types of self-certification scheme for electrical installations: full-competence scheme for electricians; defined competence scheme for other professionals such as gas fitters, who may also carry out some electrical work as part of their business
Cultural Property
Anyone working or digging in a capacity such as archaeology, architecture, building or farming who finds an object which gives reasonable grounds for believing it is Treasure, must report it to the district coroner within either 14 days from the day after the find, or 14 days from the day on which it is first believed or there are reasons to believe that the find might be Treasure.
Treasure includes any object with metallic content, other than a coin, of which at least 10 per cent by weight of the metallic content is gold or silver and that is at least 300 years old. If the object is prehistoric it will be Treasure if any part of it is gold or silver.
Treasure also includes any group of two or more metallic objects, other than coins, of any composition of prehistoric date that come from the same find, any group of two or more coins from one find if they are at least 300 years old and have a gold or silver content of 10 per cent by weight (if the coins contain less than 10 per cent gold or silver there must be at least ten of them). Treasure also includes ny object, whatever it is made of, that is found in the same place as, or had previously been together with, another object that is Treasure and any object that would previously have been Treasure Trove, but does not fall within the specific categories above,
Energy Performance Certificates (EPC)
EPC are required whenever buildings are built, sold or let. In a case of builders or developers the Energy Performance Buildings Regulations will apply.
An EPC is required for an existing homes when they are marketed for sale. This forms part of the Home Information Pack which must be produced.
New homes must have an EPC when construction is complete. If a property is marketed off plan before completion it must have a predicted energy assessment which is to be included in the Home Information Pack.
An EPC is necessary in commercial buildings over 10,000 sq. metres when they are constructed, sold or rented. An EPC will be valid for 10 years.
An EPC must express the energy rating of the building in a particular format. It must include a reference value, the current legal standard or bench mark and be issued by an energy assessor who is an accredited provider and should be in the form of certificates for the category of building.
It must contain details of the building, estimate of the total use of floor area, name of the energy assessor, date of issue, date of approved accreditation scheme.