The new Building Safety Act applies to ALL work that requires building control approval. It introduces new regulations that place duties on those who procure, plan, manage, and undertake building work of ANY kind. Under the BSA a ‘Principal Designer’ is responsible for ALL design work. If ANY future occupant should suffer ‘a physical or financial injury’ because of something that doesn’t comply, they now have the right to take action.
The question is, will your Principal Designer take responsibility for design work completed AFTER the project starts? The design of your air handling system for instance, an enormous ducted ventilation system that can affect your building structure, layout, efficiency, thermal comfort, and fire protection strategy. It’s certainly worth asking.
If the answer’s no, don’t expect your Principal Contractor to step up and take responsibility. They’re in control of the project during the construction phase only, not retrofit design work. So if the fall guy isn’t the architect or the builder, there’s only one ‘Duty Holder’ left, the person who procured their services.
By specifying enough of the right (low-pressure, radial) ducting Solarcrest design MVHR systems with minimal air resistance (typically 80-100 Pascals). This minimises the workload for the fan motors so they consume under 1.5 Watts per litre per second, meeting the energy conservation requirements of Approved Document L (section 6.55.d). Minimising the load is also how we meet the ventilation and acoustic requirements of Approved Document F.
All we need to do then is ensure the system fits as designed, which is why we only design in 3D. By starting with a structural model of your building in BIM/Revit, our designers can effectively install your system ‘virtually’ to check it fits before you start construction, thereby avoiding conflicts with other services and other expensive surprises on site. Because when installers are forced to ‘make things fit’, the design performance normally goes out the window along with any design accountability.
Finally, to ensure it was designed correctly and then installed correctly, our systems are commissioned and tested by a 3rd party technical engineer. We don’t ask installers to mark their own homework. This quality-controlled process means Solarcrest will guarantee optimal performance and full regulatory compliance from the outset.
Solarcrest have began designing, installing, and retrofitting MVHR in 2010. Our early work included numerous R&D projects under the scrutiny of DECC, the NEA, ERDF, Technology Strategy Board, Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords, when MVHR was still in its infancy. Since then we’ve satisfied hundreds of designers, builders, and clients alike. Solarcrest were the first UK company to attain government Trustmark for ventilation, and to date we have almost 200 independently verified five-star reviews. Solarcrest are the only company approved by Airflow, Zehnder, Vent Axia, and other leading UK manufacturers.
Our Lead Designer Nathan has been designing complex MVHR systems for Solarcrest clients since day one. A qualified Architectural Technician and Passivhaus designer with over 500 successful MVHR designs under his belt; domestic, commercial, certified Passive, new build, refurb, and retrofit, Nathan is the epitome of ‘MVHR pioneer’. He’s the kind of guy you need on your design team if you value experience.
Our Technical Manager James is an acoustician, structural, electronics, controls, and software engineer, ventilation designer, and regulatory encyclopaedia rolled into one. Formally Airflow’s Tier 3 technical engineer and the guru people turn to when nobody has the answer, James used to train the manufacturers own designers and helped to write the requirements installers must follow to comply with the law. ADF(1) Appendix C section 2a.1 to be precise.