If a builder or your local authority has mentioned Heras fencing, you might be wondering whether your project genuinely needs it or whether it is an unnecessary expense. The short answer is that any site the public could wander into needs secure fencing, and for most domestic building work Heras panels are the simplest way to achieve that. Here is how the rules apply to home projects in Leicester and the wider Midlands.
Heras is actually a brand name that has become shorthand for temporary mesh panel fencing, the same way people say Hoover for vacuum cleaners. A standard panel is around 3.45 metres wide and 2 metres tall, made of welded steel mesh, slotted into rubber or concrete feet and clipped to its neighbour with anti-tamper couplers. Panels go up in minutes, need no digging, and come down just as quickly when the job finishes.
Its job is twofold. It keeps the public, and especially children, away from open excavations, scaffolding, machinery and stacked materials. It also protects you, because tools, timber and plant left on an open site are an easy target for theft, and insurers increasingly ask what perimeter security was in place before paying out.
There is no regulation that names Heras fencing specifically. What the law does say, through the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and the Health and Safety at Work Act, is that a construction site must be secured against unauthorised access so far as is reasonably practicable. The Health and Safety Executive expects sites in built-up areas, which covers most streets in Leicester, to have a physical barrier around them. Mesh panels are the accepted standard way to meet that duty.
For a typical home extension, the duty falls mainly on your contractor, but as the client you have responsibilities under CDM too, even on domestic jobs. There is also a practical trigger many homeowners miss: if the work means placing a skip, scaffold or fencing on the pavement or road, you need a licence from Leicester City Council or the relevant county district, and the highways team will expect the obstruction to be properly fenced and lit.
It depends on what the public can reach. A loft conversion where all the work happens behind your existing garden fence and the scaffold sits wholly on your own land may need nothing extra. A rear extension with an open trench, a driveway dig-out fronting the street, or a demolition of any kind is a different matter, because a child stepping into a 1 metre footing trench is exactly the scenario the regulations exist to prevent.
As a rule of thumb, fence the site if any of the following apply:
For most homeowners hiring makes far more sense than buying. In the East Midlands, expect roughly £1.50 to £3 per panel per week on hire, usually with a minimum term of two to four weeks, plus a delivery and collection charge and a deposit against damaged or lost panels. A typical semi-detached frontage needs around 6 to 10 panels, so a two month project might cost somewhere in the low hundreds of pounds all in. Buying new panels runs to £30 to £50 each once you include feet and couplers, which only stacks up on long projects.
Whoever supplies them, check the panels arrive with proper feet rather than bricks, anti-lift couplers on any gate or roadside run, and enough bracing to stay upright in wind, since a toppled panel on a pavement is itself a hazard you would be liable for. If your builder is arranging the fencing, ask who is responsible for checking it daily, because someone should be.
Not by name, but the law requires construction sites to be secured against unauthorised access, and mesh panel fencing is the standard way to comply. If the public could reach open trenches, scaffolding or machinery, you should fence the site.
The HSE generally expects around 2 metres in areas the public can access, which is exactly the height of a standard mesh panel. Lower barriers or tape are only suitable for marking hazards inside an already secured site.
On most domestic jobs the contractor arranges and maintains site security as part of their CDM duties, but agree it in writing before work starts. If fencing sits on the pavement, the highways licence from the council may be in your name, so check who is applying for it.
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