Guidance published by BEAMA, the trade association for energy infrastructure and systems, sets out that Part L of the Building Regulations applies to the installation of heating controls with gas or oil boilers in Wales from November 20221. The same guidance gives June 2022 as the corresponding date for England1.
The document, dated 1 June 2022, is titled Building Regulations Part L 2022 - Heating Controls Guidance and is described as guidance on how to comply with Part L with respect to installing heating controls with gas or oil boilers1. It states the two commencement dates together:
"from June 2022 (England) and November 2022 (Wales)"
The guidance does not set out the technical requirements themselves, the specific controls covered, or the compliance routes available. Those details are not reported in the document. The scope it states is limited to heating controls installed alongside gas or oil boilers1.
The Welsh date falls five months after the English one. No reason for the difference is given in the guidance1.
Why it matters for households
Building Regulations set the minimum standard for work carried out on a home, and Part L deals with the conservation of fuel and power. Where a gas or oil boiler is installed, the controls that go with it fall within that standard. The practical effect of the November 2022 date is that work in Wales on heating controls and thermostats is assessed against the Part L 2022 position rather than the earlier one, and the date on which that applies differs from England by five months.
For a household, the controls determine how much of the heat a boiler produces is actually used where and when it is wanted. Time and temperature control, and the zoning of a system, bear directly on how much fuel is burned for the same comfort, and therefore on running cost and on how far a home can meet its own heating needs from the energy it buys. Because Wales sets some building matters separately from England, the rules a householder or their installer works to can differ depending on which side of the border the property sits. The wider picture of where Welsh rules diverge is set out in Building Regulations in Wales, and the division of responsibilities between Cardiff and Westminster is covered in Energy and Buildings Policy in Wales.
What happens next
The guidance gives no further dates beyond June 2022 for England and November 2022 for Wales1. No later commencement date, transitional arrangement or enforcement detail is reported in the document.