Decline in House Building Blamed on Sprinkler Regulations

“Bizarre” over-regulation of new homes built in Wales has been criticised for causing a continued slump in home building in the country.

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Welsh Secretary David Jones told Conservative Party Conference delegates today (Wednesday) that unnecessary red tape in Wales, including the requirement for sprinklers to be installed in all new homes, had contributed to a 32 per cent decline in new home registrations there in the period from May to July (compared with a year earlier). In the same period, registrations increased 34 per cent in England, he said.

In Labour-run Wales, regulations on builders are considerably more onerous than in England, including the bizarre proposal to fit every new house with a sprinkler system.
The consequence of this over-regulation is that fewer houses are being built in Wales.

Last week, one of the biggest builders of homes in Wales, Persimmon Homes, said it would stop building houses in parts of the South Wales valleys, because they do not make money. The builder blamed red tape, saying that homes cost around GB pound 3,000 more to build in Wales than in England and sell for less.

Phased introduction

Regulations that would force builders to install sprinklers in all new buildings were originally intended to take effect in 2013, but a phased introduction was announced this year. Under this plan, new high-risk properties such as care homes and university halls will be required to have sprinklers from April 2014. The regulations will not apply to other houses until January 2016.

So the current downturn in the Welsh house building market cannot be directly apportioned to the new sprinkler regulations. However, the looming threat of them taking effect in 2013 could have put some builders off.

The Welsh secretary called on the Welsh Assembly to rein in regulation.

Cut the red tape that is pushing builders out of the Welsh market.
Use devolution as something that can give Wales a competitive edge in the global race, rather than as an excuse to regulate.

The views of the Welsh secretary broadly mirror those of Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles. In a June letter to Ann Jones, the Welsh Assembly member behind the sprinkler regulations, Pickles wrote that they would place an unnecessary “burden of red tape” on builders, especially when compared with the rules in England. This prompted an angry response from the Chief Fire Officers Association, which called the UK government’s negative stance on the Welsh approach “short-sighted.”

Related posts:

• Wales Residential Sprinkler Law Not Cost-Effective
• 3 Years Until Most New Builds in Wales Will Require Sprinklers