PART P

Scotland already changed their building regs a few years ago. I'm not expert on the Scotish building regs, but I spoke with a Scotish BCO (Building Control Officer) when I was preparing my response to the consultation on Part P (which you can find at

They did it the sensible way -- i.e. require installations to conform to BS7671, but without all the pointless bureaucracy in Part P. As for inspection certificates, it's up to the BCO to decide if the tester is competent. BCO's are happy to accept inspection certificates from competent DIYers at one end of the scale, and also to refuse them from incompetant professionals at the other end of the scale. I can't remember exactly when inspection certificates are required, but I think it's only when BCO is involved in a project for some other reason -- i.e. never just for electrical work alone. All the BCO's I've spoken to (English and Scotish) think Part P is a complete waste of time.

The stunning level of common sense in the Scotish scheme puts the English/Welsh scheme to shame.

by all accounts, Part P is dead before it start's. We had a NICEIC visit last week and we declined his offer to apply to part P, as we are purely commercial and industrial and hopefull won't affect us, but he went away downhearted saying that only 4 companies within the NIC applied for part P in our region, so far.