On the 13th May 2010 the CAB will be holding its 5th Annual Technical Conference at Stratford Manor Hotel, Warwickshire, CV37 0PY

This will be the first Technical Conference that I, as the CAB’s new Technical Consultant, will be involved in, and I believe that the theme ‘Get Legal, Stay legal!’ is both simple and meaningful.

After my first six months working as part of the CAB Team I have become aware not only of the changes imminent and planned for the future in the UK, but also those promulgated longer term changes being thrashed out in Europe.The challenge of getting ‘up to speed’ with regulations, and staying there, I can assure you, will not get any easier.

Unfortunately we, like our European colleagues, suffer from politicians who in too many cases have no knowledge of the aspects of our working life they impact upon. To make matters worse they invariably fail to seek advice from those with the appropriate specialist professional knowledge and expertise essential for arriving at a feasible outcome. This results in often conflicting requirements, and one which came to light recently was a comment on the CLG website regarding changes to Document L - Energy, and Document F - Ventilation, which stated: “When the proposed energy efficiency standards in Part L are strengthened in 2010 there is likely to be a tendency to more airtight buildings. It is therefore necessary to propose changes to Part F of the Building Regulations at the same time to ensure adequate means of ventilation is provided.” In simple terms this means, that in order to meet Document L, you need to ‘seal’ your building, but to ‘breath’ you need to break that ‘seal’ for the occasional gasp of fresh air!

However, regulations are mandatory and when imposed on us we have to conform or suffer the consequences. The purpose of this conference is to explain new and impending regulation and requirements, and to provide guidance on how to ‘Get Legal’ and some insight into how to ‘Stay Legal!’

The topics to be presented, are as follows:

Jane Anderson – Principal Consultant – BRE – BREEAM and the Green Guide
Mick Reynolds – Development Officer – Acpo Secured By Design – Schools & Commercial Building Schemes 2010
Luke Adams – Sector Manager – BBA – Testing to prove compliance with Secured by Design 2010
John Tebbit – Industry Affairs Director – Construction Products Association – Building Regulations, Approved Document L 2010 (due October 2010)
Simon Beer – Product Certification Manager, Doors & Windows – BM Trada Certification – CE Marking - the requirements

For details of how to attend the 5th CAB Technical Conference on 13 May 2010 at Stratford Manor Hotel, Warwickshire, please contact Julie Harley at the CAB office on 01453 828851 or email julie.harley@c-a-b.org.uk