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17th edition design given 18th edition certifcate

Former Community Member
Former Community Member
Hello, I recently purchased a new build home on a small development; a rather unique situation has occurred that I thought was interesting and might interest some people here to discuss. It's still currently unresolved but progress is being made.


The house has a NICEIC BS 7671: 2018 domestic electrical installation certificate dated 5/2/20 with no departures identified; with the only comment being no water bond due to plastic pipework. I noticed that no SPD had been fitted so asked the contractor for the completed risk assessment to determine that it was not needed. Initially they did not know what I was on about and then said that no SPD was fitted due to the initial design being done in December 2018 to the 17th edition. So far so good!


However on the electrical designs I have there was a revision on 27/5/2019 and at my request I later paid for an additional £1700 of fixed LED lighting to be installed throughout on 20/11/2019. After bringing this up I was told it was still to the 17th and that "any subsequent revisions are based on the regulations in force at the time of the original design". The installation certificate includes these lighting changes as many more (20+) positions are served on the circuits, everything else seems to be as the 27/5/2019 revision design.


I then asked why a 18th edition certificate had been issued with no note of that the installation is actually to 17th design and standard and was told that they had used up all their 17th edition certificates during the grace period, that the NICEIC had advised them to use 18th edition certificates but place "n/a" on items pertaining to SPDs and that their response is to amend the existing certificate to note that the installation was carried out to the 17th edition regulations.


I can forgive that yes, even a brand new home can be delivered not to the latest regulation due to a design from a grace period (as always regulations can be updated quicker than projects) but I do not get a good feeling from the 18th edition certificate being issued on a 17th edition design and installation without any indication - certainly the other homeowners on the development may not be as keen on protecting their extra gizmos as I am!



 


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    davezawadi (David Stone):

    Interesting, so the installing electrician is responsible for all the stages, and then the QS has signed. In my view this does not meet the requirements of BS7671, as the design was presumably done by an unknown third party. In a build like this, the design (Circuits, positions of accessories, cable sizes CPD ratings, etc.) will usually be done by a designer working for the Architect and the Electrical sub-contractor does the work.


    Ebee covered the cert bit earlier, as in the one signature for design/ construction/inspect+test. NICEIC forms have an additional signature box for QS , notionally for checking that the details on the cert are correct. It is a variation on the model forms in BS7671 simply for their rules of enrollment. 

    The architect will know SFA about electrical installation. With new build domestic the designer will likely be the installing contractor. Anything else will be a disaster. The electrician will be given a spec simply as a plan of points of use, RCD on circuits and complying with BS7671.  The electrician will then have to plan and install this within the constraints of structure, BS7671, other trades and where stuff can realistically go. That is where the skill and expertise of a good sparky will always trump remote control.


     


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  • 0
    davezawadi (David Stone):

    Interesting, so the installing electrician is responsible for all the stages, and then the QS has signed. In my view this does not meet the requirements of BS7671, as the design was presumably done by an unknown third party. In a build like this, the design (Circuits, positions of accessories, cable sizes CPD ratings, etc.) will usually be done by a designer working for the Architect and the Electrical sub-contractor does the work.


    Ebee covered the cert bit earlier, as in the one signature for design/ construction/inspect+test. NICEIC forms have an additional signature box for QS , notionally for checking that the details on the cert are correct. It is a variation on the model forms in BS7671 simply for their rules of enrollment. 

    The architect will know SFA about electrical installation. With new build domestic the designer will likely be the installing contractor. Anything else will be a disaster. The electrician will be given a spec simply as a plan of points of use, RCD on circuits and complying with BS7671.  The electrician will then have to plan and install this within the constraints of structure, BS7671, other trades and where stuff can realistically go. That is where the skill and expertise of a good sparky will always trump remote control.


     


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