New farm buildings must meet extreme weather regs
©FLPA/Rex/Shutterstock Farmers affected by floods are being warned they could be held criminally responsible if they replace buildings with ones that don’t meet regulations.
Changes were made to the Construction Design and Management 2015 regulations in April last year that increased the responsibility of farmers for the health and safety of new buildings that they put up, particularly if they had a hand in the design.
The Rural and Industrial Design and Building Association (Ridba) said farmers could be prosecuted if buildings failed due to poor design.
See also: Farm floods – guide to practical and financial support
Farmers should pay particular attention, said Ribda, to the load required for new agricultural buildings, which was increased in 2013 to protect against increasingly extreme weather brought about by climate change.
Strong buildings make financial sense
Ridba said designing stronger structures would also be in farmers’ financial interests as it meant the buildings would be less likely to collapse in the future, and would help guard against structural failures that might injure or kill people and livestock, or damage machinery and crops.
“It has been drawn to Ridba’s attention that more and more farmers are asking frame manufacturers to use the steel frame of a new building at the same size as an existing building but mostly this will mean that the new building frame is ‘underdesigned’.
See also: How to build a grain store on a budget
The organisation also said that insurers were increasingly interested in correct design and there had been instances of insurers refusing to cover new buildings that were underdesigned.
Building load requirements
In light of elevated risk levels, the British standard BS 5502:22 was amended in 2013 to increase the design loads for agricultural buildings.
This covers buildings in general agricultural use such as for livestock, crop and machinery storage.
It does not cover dwellings, or buildings to which the public has access, such as farm shops or riding schools, and currently excludes temporary farm structures.