§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. Christopher Leslie)Too many people experience noisy neighbours, whether late night parties, or loud television. This can have a significant impact on quality of life. It is also one of the things councils gel the most complaints about. At a time 63WS when we are encouraging the construction industry to build to greater densities, this issue is even more important.
That is why I am publishing official guidance on new amendments to the Building Regulations, which will be available this week. The amendments and guidance will improve standards of sound privacy between homes, and will go further to improve the sound insulation of walls and floors within the home, as well as between rooms in hostels, hotels and residential homes.
The scope of Part E of the Building Regulations will extend beyond separating walls and floors in houses and flats, to deal with reverberation in the common parts of blocks of flats, and also acoustic conditions in schools. The new requirements for Part E come into force on I July 2003.
We are also addressing the need to remove barriers to trade in construction products by providing guidance on new European fire safety testing measures for those products. This will enable manufacturers to more easily comply with European Standards as well as existing British Standards.
Amendments to the Approved Document for Part B of the Building Regulations come into effect on 1 March and will facilitate harmonisation between our existing national test procedures and those which have been produced in support of the Construction Products Directive (CPD).