Mr. John Wickham:

The development of IS 465 arises from a recommendation of the report of the expert panel on concrete blocks. NSAI was tasked to come together and develop a protocol for the diagnosis and categorisation of dwellings. That committee was representative of those who are involved in concrete technology and the Department sat on that group with other experts in the field, as well as representation from homeowner groups. A review of the technical knowledge available at the time was conducted. Within that group of the committee, there was a precedent for similar protocols to those that would have informed the pyrite remediation scheme. IS 398 was a very successful tool in terms of getting a common position in an approach to how we would diagnose these dwellings. Based on the evidence and the technical knowledge available at that point in time, the consensus was reached that IS 465 was the state-of-the-art standard to be applied.