How to Search UK Building Regulations Approved Documents on Site (Without Carrying the Paperwork)

Every construction professional in the UK has been there. You are on site, a question comes up about fire compartmentation, thermal bridging, or drainage falls, and you need to check the relevant Approved Document. So you pull out your phone, search “Approved Document B fire safety,” and spend the next ten minutes scrolling through GOV.UK trying to find the specific clause you need in a 200-page PDF that was never designed to be read on a mobile screen.

There has to be a better way. And there is.

This guide explains how UK building regulations Approved Documents are structured, the fastest ways to search them on site, and how modern construction apps are making regulation access instant.

What Are Approved Documents?

The Building Regulations 2010 set out the legal requirements for building work in England. The Approved Documents (Parts A through S) provide practical guidance on how to comply with these regulations. They are not the law themselves — they are government-endorsed guidance that, if followed, is generally accepted as demonstrating compliance.

The current Approved Documents cover:

• Part A: Structure
• Part B: Fire safety (Volumes 1 and 2)
• Part C: Site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture
• Part D: Toxic substances
• Part E: Resistance to sound
• Part F: Ventilation
• Part G: Sanitation, hot water safety, and water efficiency
• Part H: Drainage and waste disposal
• Part J: Combustion appliances and fuel storage
• Part K: Protection from falling, collision, and impact
• Part L: Conservation of fuel and power
• Part M: Access to and use of buildings
• Part N: Glazing safety (now incorporated into Part K)
• Part O: Overheating
• Part P: Electrical safety
• Part Q: Security in dwellings
• Part R: Electronic communications
• Part S: Infrastructure for charging electric vehicles
• Regulation 7: Materials and workmanship

That is over 2,000 pages of guidance across all documents. Nobody memorises it all. The skill is knowing where to look and finding the answer quickly.

Why On-Site Access Matters

Regulation questions rarely come up at your desk. They come up on site, mid-conversation, when a decision needs to be made now:

• The building control officer queries your fire stopping detail — you need Part B, Section 8
• Your subcontractor asks whether the staircase needs a second handrail — you need Part K, Section 1
• The client wants to know if the new extension needs mechanical ventilation — you need Part F, Table 1.1
• A delivery of insulation arrives and you need to verify the U-value requirement — Part L, Section 4

In each case, the person asking expects an answer in minutes, not hours. Telling them “I will check when I get back to the office” slows down the job and undermines your authority as the person running the site.

The Problem with PDFs

The Approved Documents are published as PDF files on GOV.UK. While they are free to download, they have significant usability problems on site:

• File size: Part B alone is over 200 pages across two volumes. Opening and navigating this on a phone is painful.
• Poor search: PDF search only matches exact text strings. Searching “fire door” will not find “fire-resisting doorset” or “FD30S.” You need to know the exact terminology used in the document.
• No cross-referencing: Approved Documents frequently reference other Parts, British Standards, and Building Regulations clauses. In a PDF, following these references means opening another document and starting a new search.
• Version confusion: Documents are updated periodically. If you downloaded Part L three years ago, you may be working from a superseded version without realising it.
• Offline availability: If you have not pre-downloaded every Approved Document, you need mobile data to access them. On many construction sites, signal is unreliable.

Better Approaches to On-Site Regulation Search

Option 1: Pre-Download All PDFs

Download every Approved Document to your phone or tablet before going on site. Organise them in folders by Part letter. This gives you offline access but does not solve the search and navigation problems.

Pros: Free, offline capable
Cons: Difficult to search, manual version management, poor mobile experience

Option 2: Use the LABC or NHBC Apps

The Local Authority Building Control (LABC) and National House Building Council (NHBC) both offer reference apps. These can be useful for specific queries but tend to focus on residential construction and may not cover the full scope of the Approved Documents.

Pros: Curated content, some search capability
Cons: Limited scope, may require subscription, not comprehensive

Option 3: Use a Dedicated Construction App with Built-In Regulation Search

The most efficient approach is using a construction management app that includes regulation search as a built-in feature. Instead of switching between your site management app and a separate PDF reader, you search regulations from the same tool you use for daily logs, inspections, and reporting.

Pros: Fast search, always up to date, integrated into your workflow, offline capable
Cons: Requires purchasing the app

What Good Regulation Search Looks Like

A well-designed regulation search feature should offer:

• Full-text search across all Approved Documents simultaneously — type your query and get results from every relevant Part
• Smart matching that understands construction terminology — searching “fire door” should also surface results for “fire-resisting doorset,” “FD30,” and related terms
• Section-level results — jump directly to the relevant paragraph, not just the document
• Offline access — all regulation content stored locally on the device
• Current versions — automatic updates when Approved Documents are revised

How FORGE Command Handles Regulation Search

FORGE Command includes a UK building regulations search module that puts all current Approved Documents at your fingertips. The search is designed for on-site use:

• Search across all Approved Documents from a single search bar
• Results are organised by Part and section for quick navigation
• Works fully offline — all regulation content is stored on your device
• Integrated into the same app you use for site diaries, inspections, and reporting — no context switching

When the building control officer asks about your drainage gradient and you can pull up Part H Section 2 in five seconds, that is a different conversation than “I will get back to you.”

Keeping Up with Changes

Approved Documents are updated more often than most people realise. Part L (conservation of fuel and power) had a major revision in 2021 that significantly increased insulation and air tightness requirements. Part O (overheating) was entirely new in 2022. Part B is under ongoing review following the Grenfell Tower Inquiry recommendations.

If you are working from downloaded PDFs, you need to manually check GOV.UK for updates regularly. An app-based solution handles this automatically — you always have the current version.

Practical Tips for Site Teams

1. Know your most-used Parts. For residential work, Parts B, L, M, and P come up most often. For commercial fit-out, add Parts E and F. For infrastructure, focus on Parts A, C, and H.
2. Bookmark key sections. If you are working on a fire strategy, bookmark the relevant sections of Part B. Most apps and PDF readers support bookmarking.
3. Cross-reference with British Standards. Approved Documents reference numerous British Standards (BS 5628, BS EN 1996, BS 7671, etc.). Having a note of which standards apply to your current works saves time when questions arise.
4. Share findings with the team. When you look something up, share the relevant section with the people who need it. A quick screenshot or PDF export prevents the same question being asked three times.

Summary

UK building regulations are comprehensive for good reason — they keep buildings safe. But accessing 2,000 pages of guidance on a construction site using mobile-unfriendly PDFs is not efficient. A construction app with built-in regulation search turns a ten-minute frustration into a five-second answer.

FORGE Command puts every Approved Document in your pocket, searchable and offline, alongside the site diary, inspection checklists, and reporting tools you use every day. All for a one-time £39.99 purchase.

The regulations are not going anywhere. Your approach to accessing them should move with the times.