Freeze on Building Regs could have serious implications for water resources

Article from Utility Week Magazine.

The government’s decision to freeze building regulations could have “serious implications” for water resources and put legally-binding water saving targets at risk, experts have warned.

In his Budget last week, chancellor John Healey said that to get more houses built he would be “drawing the line” on constant alterations to building regulations and there would be no “major changes” in this Parliament.

Yet there are concerns the moratorium will have a knock-on effect in the water sector, where work has been underway to tighten rules on water efficiency standards in new housing developments.

It also puts a question mark over more long-term plans, outlined by water minister Emma Hardy earlier this year, for a 10-year plan to enable rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse in all new homes over the next 10 years.

One of the most immediate threats is to planned changes to part G of the Building Regulations that would cut water use in new developmentsfrom 125 to 105 litres per person per day.  

The government has not yet published its response to the consultation, which was launched jointly by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), and closed last December.

“Postponing updates to Part G on water efficiency for the rest of this Parliament will have serious implications for England’s already stretched water resources,” said Rob Allen, senior policy officer at cross-party think-tank Policy Connect.

“The announcement also raises concerns about the timeline for Defra’s forthcoming wider consultation on rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse, which will be vital if we are to avoid future shortfalls in public water supply.”

“We understand the need to build more homes, but this decision comes at a high cost to our water supply,” added Lutz Johnen, chair of the UK Water Reuse Association (UKWRA), adding he had “deep concern” over the government’s decision. 

Johnen said that if the changes to Part G do not go ahead, it will put a legal target in the Environment Act to cut average personal water use by 20% by 2038 at risk. It would also make it harder to close the projected 5 billion litre a day gap between water supply and demand in England by 2055.

“There is no time to waste. Every new home built without water reuse is a lost opportunity. The UK WRA believes that every new home should have water reuse as standard. Without it, we are missing the chance to tackle water shortage,” he added.

It also comes weeks after Utility Week reported that the scope of the Mandatory Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme (MWELS), another water saving measure, has been scaled back, and will now not include washing machines, dishwashers or electric showers. 

Waterwise, which has led a long campaign for the introduction of MWELS, said it was concerned by the narrowing of its scope and the Budget announcement, describing them as two key policy levers for closing the 5 billion litre daily gap by 2055.

Tamara Walters, Waterwise policy manager, said amending building regulations is “essential” as the current ‘litres per-person per-day’ metric was failing to deliver real-world water savings. 

“Building regulations should not function as a ceiling, but act as an enabler of ambition,” she said. “Government policy and building regulations should provide clear support for reuse systems and widespread introduction.”

Meanwhile Lisa Craven, managing director at Stormsaver, a company that designs water reuse systems and advocates for policy change, said: “The National Water Resources Framework shows that we face a 5 billion litre daily deficit by 2055; 60% of this deficit will be met with improved water efficiency and metering, so changing building regulations as soon as feasibly possible is fundamental.”

Many new housing developments under threat due to a lack of available water, and the government’s consultation pitched the tougher standards as a way of creating “environmental headroom” for growth, mitigating against the risk of homes being refused due to water scarcity.

“Failure to implement water demand management measures in response to water scarcity could result in over 61,000 houses not being built costing the economy £25 billion this parliamentary term,” it said.

Many in the water sector do not think the changes proposed in the 2025 consultation were ambitious enough to drive the required reduction in water use. 

Policy Connect’s Bricks and Water report, published earlier this year, called for mandatory water efficiency standards to be repealed and replaced with a single national standard which should adopt a fittings-based approach. 

It also went further, calling on the government to amend Approved Document G of Building Regulations 2010 to include a specific legal requirement for inclusion of water reuse systems where required under planning policy. 

Matt Wheeldon, sustainable solutions director at Wessex Water, said that changing Part G to mandate rainwater harvesting would be the biggest single change to radically reduce how much drinking water people use.