Electric vehicle charging requirements come into force in Eire

The Republic of Ireland’s Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, has signed off new building regulations that require electric vehicle recharging infrastructure be installed in a range of new builds.

The regulations, which are designed to simplify the future installation of EV recharging
points, apply to three types of new builds:

• New dwelling houses with a parking space located within the boundary of the dwelling
• New multi-unit residential buildings
• Multi-unit residential buildings undergoing major renovation where the car park is located inside or adjacent to the building, and where renovations include the car park or the electrical infrastructure of the building or car park.

The regulations came into force on 1 November 2022.

Minister O’Brien has also signed new regulations to facilitate the roll-out of
district heating. The purpose of the regulations is to support more efficient district heating and cooling in residential buildings, in line with European Union (District Heating) Regulations 2022.

‘Efficient district heating and cooling’ is defined as a district heating or cooling system that uses at least 50% renewable energy, 50% waste heat, 75% cogenerated heat, or 50% of a combination of such energy and heat.

These new regulations are a partial transposition of Article 15.4 of the Renewable Energy Directive, to permit the Building Regulation minimum requirements for renewable energy in Nearly Zero Energy Buildings to be fulfilled through efficient district heating and cooling using a significant share of renewable energy and waste heat and cold. 

Technical Guidance Documents L (Conservation of Fuel and Energy) 2022 have been
published to accompany these new regulations and can be accessed here and here.​​

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