Builders of new houses are incensed by new regulations that call for installing steel bars across the first-floor windows to stop the rising number of tall Britons from falling out.
Developers have stated that the new building safety requirements have given them just two options: install the bars or make expensive and labor-intensive design revisions.
Whitehall officials’ concerns that an increase in fatal accidents would follow the implementation of higher insulation requirements led to the signing off of the revisions by ministers. This is because the civil servants anticipated that more homeowners would try to open first-floor windows in the summer to try to keep their warmer homes cooler.
All construction work must adhere to the Building Regulations 2010 section of the Building Act 1984.
The bars installed to prevent accidents may be Georgian bars or a single interior bar across a bay window, but they must fulfil fundamental safety standards.
The Telegraph has learned that while developers objected to the proposed regulations, Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities employees rejected them in an email that was made public on August 17.
The authorities said that since people have grown taller and have a greater centre of gravity, they need a higher guard to safeguard them.
They cited studies from the 1990s, which revealed that each year, there are around 2,300 hospitalizations from windows and 50 fatal falls.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities employee stated: “While we recognise that this data is not current, historical information on falls from height may nonetheless be instructive.
The department understood that the increased overheating rules may increase the danger of falling, which necessitated better protection.
According to the Home Builders Federation, the regulatory amendments were “ill-thought-out and in conflict with other standards [with] evident aesthetic ramifications for new homes.”
According to industry insiders, the new regulations might affect “tens of thousands” of planned dwellings. This occurs as Liz Truss, the UK’s new prime minister, works to promote more home construction.
We make no excuses for making sure buildings are safe, a Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities spokeswoman said. We have had lengthy discussions about this subject with business, and we reject any claims that doing so would delay the construction of the houses the nation needs.
“Housebuilders are not compelled to put bars on first floor windows. Instead, they must consider the safety of occupants when building opening windows in the first place.”