Approved Document S Explained — EV Charging Building Regs for UK Trades in 2026

What Approved Document S Covers

Approved Document S supports Part S of Schedule 1 to the Building Regulations 2010 in England. It came into force on 15 June 2022 and applies to building work where a relevant application was made on or after that date. In broad terms it sets minimum requirements for EV charging infrastructure across three categories of building: new residential, residential undergoing major renovation, and non-residential (new build and major renovation).

This is an England-only document. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each set their own building standards and have their own EV charging requirements on separate timelines — for example, Wales introduced equivalent provisions through its own Approved Document, and Scotland addresses EV infrastructure through its Technical Handbooks. If you work across borders, do not assume the England rules apply unchanged. Always check the relevant nation's standards for the property's location.

New Residential Buildings

The headline requirement is the one most people know: a new dwelling with an associated car parking space must be provided with a charge point. "Associated" means parking within the site that serves that dwelling — a driveway, an allocated bay, or a space within the curtilage. One dwelling, one associated space, one charge point. On a development of houses each with a drive, that means a charge point per plot.

Where a residential building has more than one dwelling and more parking spaces than dwellings, the rule scales: a charge point for each dwelling with an associated space, plus cable routes (ducting and capacity) to a proportion of the remaining spaces so that charge points can be added later without major works. This matters for blocks of flats and apartment developments with communal car parks, where retrofitting cabling after construction is expensive and disruptive.

Major Renovation and Mixed-Use

Part S also bites when an existing residential building undergoes a major renovation — broadly, work to more than 25% of the surface area of the building envelope, or works that include the car park or the electrical infrastructure serving it. Where the renovated building will have more than ten parking spaces, the building must be provided with charge points and cable routes for a proportion of those spaces.

Mixed-use buildings — say, retail or office on the ground floor with flats above — are assessed against the relevant residential and non-residential provisions for the parts they contain. The practical effect is that a single development can attract several different Part S obligations at once, and the design-stage assessment needs to identify all of them before the electrical layout is fixed.

Non-Residential Buildings

For new non-residential buildings with more than ten parking spaces, Part S requires at least one charge point, plus cable routes for a proportion of the total spaces — so that a meaningful share of bays can be converted to active charge points in future. The same applies to non-residential buildings undergoing major renovation where the resulting building will have more than ten spaces.

The proportion of spaces that need cable routes is set out in Approved Document S and depends on the building type and the number of spaces. The principle is the same throughout: the regulations want the infrastructure — the trunking, ducting and supply capacity — in place at construction, even where a live charge point is not yet fitted to every bay. Retrofitting cable is the expensive part; the regulations front-load it.

What Counts as a Compliant Charge Point

A charge point fitted to satisfy Part S is not just "any socket". Approved Document S sets a minimum power rating of 7kW and requires the charge point to be capable of supplying that rating to a single vehicle. It must use a socket or connector to the relevant British Standard so that any compliant vehicle can use it.

Charge points fitted to dwellings must also meet smart charging requirements. The Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations require domestic and workplace charge points sold in Great Britain to have smart functionality — the ability to respond to signals, schedule charging, and avoid charging at peak times by default. In practice this means the charge point you specify for a Part S dwelling must be a smart unit that meets those regulations, not a basic dumb socket. Approved Document S references this regime, and Building Control will expect the installed unit to comply.

Where a full charge point is not required for a particular space — typically the "cable route" spaces in larger developments — Part S instead requires the ducting and supply provision to be installed so that a charge point can be added later. A "cable route" means the physical containment and the spare capacity in the supply, not a live, terminated charge point. Getting this distinction right at design stage avoids both over-installing and, more dangerously, under-providing.

Exemptions and the Cost Cap

Part S includes exemptions, and they are frequently misunderstood. The most significant is the cost cap for new residential buildings: where the cost of installing the charge point and associated infrastructure exceeds a set figure per dwelling, the requirement to provide the charge point can be reduced — but the building must still be provided with cable routes up to the value of that cap. In other words, the cap limits how much a developer has to spend, not whether they have to do anything at all.

Other exemptions and relaxations apply where provision is not technically feasible, or where the cost of the new or upgraded electrical connection to the building (the grid or distribution network connection) is excessive. A development that would need an expensive new substation or a major reinforcement of the local network may be able to reduce the number of charge points accordingly. These are not blanket get-outs — they need to be evidenced and agreed with Building Control, with the figures and the network operator's position documented.

How Part S Sits Alongside BS 7671 and the IET Code

Part S tells you whether a charge point or cable route is required and to what minimum standard. It does not tell you how to wire it safely — that is the job of BS 7671, the IET Wiring Regulations. The EV-specific requirements live in the dedicated section of BS 7671 covering electric vehicle charging installations, which sets out the protective measures, earthing arrangements and the RCD and PEN-fault detection requirements that apply to charge point circuits.

Alongside the wiring regs, the IET Code of Practice for Electric Vehicle Charging Equipment Installation is the industry reference that ties everything together — site assessment, load assessment, equipment selection, installation and commissioning. A competent EV installer will design to BS 7671, work to the IET Code of Practice, and then demonstrate to Building Control that the result also satisfies Part S. The three are complementary: Part S is the planning and provision standard, BS 7671 is the safety standard, and the IET Code is the good-practice glue.

Who Signs It Off — The Notification Route

Part S is enforced through Building Control like any other Building Regulations requirement. There are two routes to demonstrate compliance. The first is full plans or notice to the local authority Building Control body (or an approved inspector), who assesses the EV provision as part of the wider building work and signs off the completion certificate.

The second is the competent person self-certification route. An electrician registered with a competent person scheme can self-certify the electrical installation work — including the EV charge point circuit — and notify it without a separate Building Control application for that work. The scheme then issues a Building Regulations compliance certificate. Critically, the competent person scheme registration must cover the relevant work; not every registration covers EV charging or Part S provision, so check your scheme membership covers what you are signing off. Where the charge point is part of a larger new-build project under Building Control, the Part S provision will usually be checked as part of that overall sign-off rather than self-certified in isolation.

Common Pitfalls

The same mistakes come up again and again on Part S jobs. Most are avoidable with a proper design-stage assessment:

• Forgetting the charge point on a new plot. On a multi-plot development it is easy for a plot to slip through where the parking arrangement changed late in design. Every dwelling with an associated space needs one — check the final site plan against the unit schedule.
• Undersized supply. A 7kW charge point draws around 32A. Fitting one — let alone several — to a dwelling or block without checking the incoming supply and the diversity calculation is the fastest way to a failed inspection or nuisance tripping. Confirm the DNO supply and main fuse rating early.
• No load management where it is needed. Where multiple charge points share a supply that cannot serve them all at full rating simultaneously, a load management system is required so the total demand stays within capacity. Designing this in is far cheaper than retrofitting after the building fails to perform.
• Treating cable routes as optional. The ducting and spare capacity for "future" spaces is a hard requirement, not a nice-to-have. Skipping it to save cost at first fix is a non-compliance that is very expensive to remedy once the car park is surfaced.
• Specifying a non-smart unit. A domestic charge point that does not meet the smart charge point regulations is not compliant. Check the unit's declared conformity before you order it.
• Assuming England rules apply everywhere. A job in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland is governed by that nation's standards. Confirm the right framework for the property's location.

Quick Reference: Part S Requirements by Building Type

FAQ

Does Part S apply to existing homes having a charger fitted?

No. Retrofitting a charge point to an existing dwelling that is not undergoing major renovation is not triggered by Part S. That work is governed by BS 7671 and the smart charge point regulations, and is usually notified through the competent person scheme. Part S is about provision at construction and major renovation.

What is the minimum charge point rating under Part S?

7kW. The charge point must be capable of supplying at least that power to a single vehicle and use a connector to the relevant British Standard.

Does the charge point have to be a smart unit?

For dwellings, yes. The Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations require smart functionality on domestic and workplace charge points, and Approved Document S references that regime. Specify a unit that declares conformity with those regulations.

Who is responsible if Part S is missed on a development?

Compliance with the Building Regulations rests with the person carrying out the work — typically the developer or main contractor — but a failed Part S provision will hold up the completion certificate and can land back on whoever designed or installed the electrical layout. A documented design-stage assessment protects everyone in the chain.