Written answers

Wednesday, 20 July 2016

Department of Environment, Community and Local Government

Building Regulations Amendments

Photo of Barry CowenBarry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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217. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on the fact that costings by his Department in its review of the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014 were rejected by the professional stakeholder bodies including Engineers Ireland, Society of Chartered Surveyors in Ireland and the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland as underestimating the amount of work involved and time taken, and had unrealistic views of salaries in the sector; if his Department still maintains its costings made in its review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23223/16]

Photo of Damien EnglishDamien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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In response to the many building failures that have emerged over the past decade, my Department introduced the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014 (S.I. No. 9 of 2014), which require greater accountability in relation to compliance with Building Regulations in the form of statutory certification of design and construction by registered construction professionals and builders, lodgement of compliance documentation, mandatory inspections during construction and validation and registration of certificates.

The key impact on costs associated with the implementation of S.I. No. 9 of 2014 lies in the requirement for the appointment of an Assigned Certifier whose role, in conjunction with the builder and the project team, is to draw up and execute an appropriate inspection plan and to certify the building’s compliance with Building Regulations on completion. In effect, the statutory Certificate of Compliance on Completion certifies that a building is compliant with all relevant requirements of the Building Regulations.

As part of last year’s review of the first twelve months of the operation of the regulations, my Department prepared a Sample Preliminary Inspection Plan for a Single Unit Dwelling on a Single Development in order to identify the key stages that would require inspection during the construction of a single unit dwelling on a single development and to estimate the costs associated with such an inspection plan.

The cost calculations published to accompany the Sample Preliminary Inspection Plan demonstrated that the Assigned Certifier role could be achieved at an approximate cost of €3,800 inclusive of VAT. Where additional design work is required the combined cost of assigned certifier duties and additional design work will be of the order of €6,000 inclusive of VAT. These costs relate to the implementation of the inspection plan on a single non-complex dwelling. A copy of this plan and all other documents released as part of that public consultation are available on my Department’s website at .

Ultimately, the fees for professional services are determined by market forces and are outside the scope of my Department’s regulatory powers. Nevertheless, during the public consultation, a number of respondents confirmed that the y were already providing assigned certifier services for between €3,000 to €4,000 per dwelling which supports the estimated costings prepared by my Department for single non-complex dwellings.

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