New build projects

Working to the programme, not around it

On a development the electrical package is one trade among many and its dates are set by everyone else's. First fix has to be complete before plastering, second fix waits on decoration, and commissioning waits on the supply being energised. Missing a window does not delay one plot, it delays the trade that follows on every plot behind it.

That is why a single contractor across the whole site is usually easier than several. On the Belvin Construction development the electrical and renewable installation ran across all the plots to one specification, so decisions taken on plot one applied to the rest rather than being renegotiated.

Charge points are no longer optional

Since 15 June 2022, Approved Document S has required every new home in England with an associated parking space to have an electric vehicle charge point. Where a development has more parking spaces than dwellings, cable routes have to be provided for the remainder.

Designed in early this is straightforward, since the supply route and the load allowance can be planned with everything else. Retrofitted late it becomes trenching through finished driveways, which is why the charge point belongs in the first fix conversation rather than the snagging one.

Solar that goes on before the roof is finished

New build is where in roof solar makes most sense. The array replaces the tiles rather than sitting above them, so it looks considerably better, and fitting it during the roofing works costs a fraction of what retrofitting it later would. On one development we installed six in roof systems across the plots as part of the same programme.

It does have to be sequenced properly. In roof mounting has to be on site and correct before the roofer reaches that plot, so the order goes in earlier than most people expect and the roof design has to be settled before it is placed.