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Publication - Advice and guidance

Building standards technical handbook 2020: non-domestic

Published
2 December 2020
Directorate
Local Government and Housing Directorate
Topic
Building, planning and design
ISBN
978-1-78544-329-9

The building standards technical handbooks provide guidance on achieving the standards set in the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004. This handbook applies to a building warrant submitted on or after 1 March 2021 and to building work which does not require a warrant commenced from that date.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

6.7 Commissioning building services

Mandatory Standard

Standard 6.7

Every building must be designed and constructed in such a way that energy supply systems and building services which use fuel or power for heating, lighting, ventilating and cooling the internal environment and heating the water, are commissioned to achieve optimum energy efficiency.

Limitation:

This standard does not apply to:

  1. major power plants serving the National Grid

  2. the process and emergency lighting components of a building

  3. heating provided solely for the purpose of frost protection, or

  4. energy supply systems used solely for industrial and commercial processes, leisure use and emergency use within a building.

6.7.0 Introduction

Commissioning in terms of this section means, raising the building services systems covered by this guidance from a level of static completion to full working order and achieving the levels of energy efficiency that the component manufacturers expect from their product(s). Commissioning however should also be carried out with a view to enabling the safe operation of the installation.

Although there is no requirement within Section 6 for minimum efficiency levels of either, building-integrated or localised energy supply systems (e.g. diesel generators, micro wind turbines or photovoltaic arrays), there is a need for commissioning to be carried out to enable efficient use, unless they are exempt under schedule 1, regulation 3. Power plants which serve a number of buildings (e.g. an industrial estate) and only export surplus electricity to the National Grid will also need to be commissioned, unless exempt in terms of schedule 1, regulation 3. Automatic monitoring and targeting systems, when present, should also be commissioned to deliver the required outputs.

Conversions - in the case of conversions, as specified in regulation 4, the building as converted shall meet the requirement of this standard (regulation 12, schedule 6).

6.7.1 Inspection and commissioning

A building services installation in a building should be inspected and commissioned in accordance with manufacturers’ instructions to enable optimum energy efficiency. The building and services should have facilities such as test points, inspection hatches and measuring devices to enable inspection, testing and commissioning to be carried out. The commissioning report should include meters and the metering system as a separate item.

One way that can be considered as following the guidance would be to use the CIBSE Commissioning Codes (http://www.cibse.org/) and BSRIA Commissioning Guides (http://www.bsria.co.uk/).

6.7.2 Ductwork leakage testing

One way that can be considered as following the guidance would be by confirming that the leakage testing has achieved the equivalent leakage performance standards specified in BES DW/143 – ‘Guide to good practice ductwork air leakage testing' .

6.7.3 Work on existing buildings

Ductwork leakage testing (see above clause) can only be carried out on ducts that are completely new and where it is possible to isolate the new duct from the existing.

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