Documents L and M

Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and Approved  Document M. 

2004 brought further changes to Building Regulations and Legal Requirements.  There are two main standards: 

Approved Document M (part of the Building Regulations 2000) came into effect on 1^st May 2004  covering Access to and Use of Building and comprises two  parts relevant to doors:

M1 - Reasonable provision for people to gain access to and use of buildings.

M2 – Access to extensions to buildings other than dwellings. 

The  Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (“DDA”) became effective on 1^st October 2004 and contains duties to make reasonable adjustments to physical features of doors in certain circumstances.

Following the guidance in Document M is not a requirement for satisfying these duties to make reasonable adjustments.  

Please contact our Sales Office if you require further clarification or information on the above standards.

Document L Compliance 

Doors and framing which are to be used for shopfronts and display windows are not required meet the standards given in Approved Document L2 and there are no limits on area. 

Commercial doors and framing used in other applications, schools, offices, other buildings may also not be required to comply if doors are needed to perform specific functions for example: 

Doors requiring unusual strength (commercial doors) power operation and or heavy usage, emergency exit, access control etc – these requirements take priority when assessing their conformance to Document L.  This may mean poorer U values but where practical this should be offset by better performance elsewhere in the building.   

The function of the doors is the prime consideration. 

Should compliance to Doc L be required compliance can be achieved by glazing the doors with the “centre pane method” with units of 1.2Wm2K or less  but please check the differing standards for new build and replacement work. 

Doors with panels below the midrail (with the midrail at 950mm to centreline) are classed as less than 50% glazing and do not need to comply. 

Automatic entrance doors also do not need to comply. 

It is our understanding that FENSA  self certification scheme only covers dwellings and replacement contracts to dwellings.  Commercial installations and building other than dwellings will require full local authority approval under the Building Regulations. 

Please contact our Sales Office if you require further clarification or information on the above standards. Alternatively, further information is available from the website of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Approved Document M, Access to and use of Buildings and Document L, Conservation of Fuel and Power