May
6
2011

What does Part P Approved mean?

An article by admin

As part of the electrical regulations, any electrical work that needs to be done needs to be approved by the local authority building control officers and has been effective since early 2005. This subsection of the Building Regulations is what is referred to as Part P. You need to use an electrician who has the necessary approval.

What is Part P approval?

Basically, any electrical work that you do or have done needs to be approved by the building authority. In order to get this you will need to supply them with your plans prior to the work being done and then get an inspector to come out and inspect the work once it is completed.

If your electrical work is part of a bigger renovations or building project then your Part P application and approval will be part of the entire project but for independent electrical jobs where you are, say, only installing an electrical shower, you will need to make a separate application.

Of course this is all much easier if you hire a Part P approved electrician to do the job. This means they will have a self-certification scheme. They should be able to show you their certification and also to send this on to the authorities.

What does this mean for you?

If you are planning to do some electrical installations yourself this may prove to be a bit of a process and often people would want to skip it. But if you are getting someone else to do any electrical work for you, Part P gives you some protection and comfort that the work done will be up to standard.

What are the particular regulations of Part P?

Part P applies to electrical work done in homes, offices, flats, or any dwelling. It also applies to the common parts of buildings that house dwellings so this would be for areas such as the stairwells and passageways in blocks of flats. It also covers electrical installations in gardens or grounds that have electricity supply associated with a building or home, this includes outbuildings such as garages and sheds. Any new electrical installation, rewiring job, installation of new circuits or additions to existing ones need to be Part P approved.

There are number of electrical jobs that don’t require Part P approval. This covers small jobs such as replacing accessories like sockets and plug switches, replacing cables for single circuits only, replacing enclosures or installing protective measures for existing installations, adding lighting points and sockets to areas that don’t include kitchens or bathrooms.

Hiring a contractor that is Part P approved

Any contractor that you hire who may be installing something that is in any way electrical, such as a burglar alarm system or your gas fitter, should have Part P approval. This protects you from a contractor who may not know what they are doing. Professional electricians also need to be Part P registered under one of five different Part P schemes. These full scope schemes are NAPIT, ELECSA, BRE, BSI, and NICEIC. Other contractors will be approved under one of the defined scope schemes depending on the type of work they are involved in such as CORGI, ELECSA, NAPIT, NIC and FTEC.

So although getting Part P approval for the smaller electrical jobs you would like to do yourself may seem like a time consuming and unnecessary expense, the regulation does a lot to protect you as a consumer when it comes to hiring someone to do the job for you, especially for bigger jobs such as the rewiring of your home where you want to know that there is some kind of standard being adhered to.

About the author: Michael Granger is a fully qualified electrician in Leeds and offers a complete range of electrical services. To learn more about becoming and electrician click here.