If your scheme has a basement car park, does Part S apply to it? Today, no
If your scheme has a basement car park, does Part S apply to it? Today, no. That may change.
Part S of the Building Regulations has required electric vehicle charging infrastructure in new buildings in England since June 2022. In the government's own words, its charge point requirements "do not apply to enclosed or open-sided car parks".
On 21 October 2026 the Department for Transport and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published a consultation that proposes:
- Extending the requirement to install charge points to covered car parks.
- Reviewing the £3,600 installation cost cap, set in 2021, for inflation.
- Other changes to Part S, depending on the responses.
It closes on 16 December 2026.
The consultation page says nothing about fire safety. For an architect, that is where the work starts. In an open car park, a charge point is mostly an electrical item. Under a building, it raises layout questions that belong at Stage 2, not at tender:
- Where do the cables run, and is there riser and switchroom space for them?
- How is a vehicle fire in a covered bay detected, controlled and its smoke cleared?
- Where does a firefighter cut the charging supply, and is it on the fire strategy drawings?
- Do charging bays sit next to escape routes or stair cores?
In an open car park, a charge point is mostly an electrical item.
These are design prompts, not new rules. A charge point schedule does not answer any of them, and all four are cheaper to settle before the structure is fixed.
If you design residential or mixed-use schemes with covered parking, the consultation is worth reading and answering.
How are you planning covered car parks while the rules are under review?
