REGULATIONS RAISE LEGAL FEARS: The revised Building Regulations set a new series of technical challenges that consulting engineers may struggle to meet

摘要

This is the view of leading UK engineer Richard Rooley, who is a former president of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). He believes that the traditional training approach adopted by the profession does not equip British consultants for the new regulations. "There is not a single design office in the world training its engineers to understand operation and maintenance of buildings," said Mr Rooley. "So Part L is really going to bite us hard." The revised Part L2, which comes into force in April, states that developers and the consulting engineers working for him must provide for operation and maintenance including inspection and commissioning. "We are not trained for that," said Mr Rooley. "Very few designers ever compare their brief with the practical completion - we have always fudged that bit. But now Part L means that a new breed of person will appear, who goes around buildings making that comparison and will not let designers away with it.