Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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577. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide, in tabular form, by county, the number of schools that have applied for additional funding due to the extra costs associated with the new building regulations that were introduced, in view of the fact that the original awards were not sufficient; the extra funding, in tabular form, that has been sought by each school individually; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15245/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The information requested by the Deputy in respect of applications for design team fee adjustments is not readily available. However, from the information that is readily available, the following table indicates, by county, the additional design team fee payments made in 2014 and to date in 2015 arising from the introduction of the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations BC(A)R 2014.

In terms of the number of school building projects affected it is safe to say that all projects where the design team was appointed prior to 2014 are affected to a greater or lesser extent and that additional costs will arise in virtually every case. General details in respect of the current status of all major school building projects is available on my Departments website and is updated monthly.

Requests for fee adjustments by individual consultants engaged as part of the design team on a school building project may vary significantly from project to project depending on the scale and complexity of the project, the characteristics of the site and the materials and methods of construction proposed, the number of site visits required and the distance to site from the consultants place of work.

Information in relation to fee adjustment requests would also be commercially sensitive as my Department is engaged in ongoing negotiations with individual design team members in respect of fee claims arising from the additional services required under BC(A)R 2014. Guidance for members of the RIAI and the ACEI on the factors to consider when calculating a fee adjustment request for a school building project are available on those bodies websites. In general, the Department would expect fee adjustment requests to reflect the advice given in those guidance notes.

However, the Department will assess each individual request on its specific merits and circumstances and in accordance with the conditions of engagement and the existing fee structure tendered by the individual consultant at time of appointment.

However, from analysis of a representative sample of fee adjustment requests, the indication is that fee adjustments for a full design team may vary from approximately 10 per cent to 30 per cent depending on the above mentioned factors. Currently, all tender competitions for appointment of design teams require tenderers to include for the provision of services to meet the requirements of BC(A)R 2014 as an inherent part of their fee proposals.