By Kiran Sagoo on Mon 11 July 2022
Does MVHR comply with the UK’s Government Building Regulations?
Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) systems are a great way to ventilate your building or house. Whilst simultaneously extracting stale air and replacing it with fresh, filtered air from outside, much of the heat that would normally be lost, is recovered. With the need for buildings becoming more airtight and sustainable, MVHR is certainly a reliable solution that many are already starting to consider implementing in their dwellings and/or non-dwellings.
It's robust and intelligent design brings many benefits, from reducing energy costs to reducing the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses. It sounds like a no brainer, but does MVHR comply with the UK’s Government Building Regulations?
What are the new building regulations?
The UK’s new building regulations, updated on June 15th 2022, are designed to make all new-builds compliant with zero-carbon measures. These new regulations contribute towards the UK’s overarching sustainability goal: net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Currently, 40% of the UK’s total energy usage comes from heating and powering buildings. And by reducing the need for heat, and adopting appliances that don’t require intense power usage, the new regulations will most definitely help meet the UK’s net-zero target.
Some of the changes in the documents include; the need for domestic buildings to produce at least 31 per cent less carbon emissions and at least 27 per cent less carbon emissions for non-domestic builds, a new requirement for CO2 monitors in all offices, requirements to remove excess heat from buildings, and the rates of air supply through ventilation in both domestic and non-domestic buildings have increased.
More detail of the updated building regulations for the above changes are outlined in Part F, Part L and Part O, available to view in our knowledge centre.
MVHR and building regulations
To equivalate to the new standards, our MVHR units recover up to 90% of heat and meet the energy efficiency guidelines. Alongside this, our units also have high-grade filters incorporated to extract the cleanest air possible, built in co2 sensors, a summer bypass and controls to boost ventilation when you see fit.
When will MVHR be needed?
Since new constructions will incorporate increased airtightness to comply with energy-efficiency measures, they’ll require more ventilation to ensure air quality inside is at its optimum level.
And of course, the size of any ventilation system must be proportionate to the size of the building to ensure every inch is covered with clean air. To conclude, MVHR is compliant with the new government regulations and as developers design and build according to the new regulations, systems such as MVHR are certain to become more common.