xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"

PART CSite preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture

Application and interpretation

25.—(1) Regulation 28 in respect of resistance to ground moisture of floors and walls, and weather resistance of walls, shall not apply where the building is intended to be used wholly for—

(a)storing goods, provided that any person who is habitually employed in the building is engaged only in storing, caring for or removing the goods; or

(b)a purpose such that compliance with regulation 28 would not serve to increase protection to the health or safety of any person habitually employed in the building.

(2) Regulation 29 applies only to a dwelling.

(3) In this Part—

“Contaminant” includes any substance which is or could become corrosive, explosive, inflammable, radioactive or toxic and includes deposits of faecal or animal matter;

“Floor” includes any base or structure between the surface of the ground, or the surface of any hardcore laid upon the ground, and the upper surface of the floor;

“Moisture” includes water in liquid, solid, semi-solid or gaseous form but not flood water;

“Radon affected area” means any area designated as such by the Health Protection Agency in the publication ‘Radon in Dwellings in Northern Ireland: 2009 Review and Atlas’; and

“Wall” means any opaque part of the external envelope of a building that is at an angle of 70° or more to the horizontal and includes piers, chimneys, columns and parapets which form part of the wall.

Site preparation and resistance to contaminants

26.—(1) The site of a building and the ground adjacent to it shall be prepared and treated, and measures shall be taken, so as to prevent, as far as reasonably practicable, any harmful effect on the building or the health or safety of the occupants caused by—

(a)vegetable soil; and

(b)contaminants.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1) measures shall be taken to prevent or limit the ingress of radon from the ground into any dwelling situated in a radon affected area.

Subsoil drainage

27.  The site of a building and the ground adjacent to it shall be drained as far as reasonably practicable, or the building otherwise protected so as to prevent any harmful effect on the building or the health of the occupants caused by—

(a)ground water; and

(b)existing subsoil drainage.

Resistance to moisture and weather

28.  Every wall, floor and roof shall be constructed so as to prevent any harmful effect on the building or the health of the occupants caused by the passage of moisture to any part of the building from—

(a)the ground; and

(b)the weather.

Condensation

29.  A building to which this regulation applies shall be designed and constructed so as to prevent, as far as reasonably practicable, any harmful effect on the building from moisture in the form of interstitial condensation.