The Building Control Amendment (2013) a step closer…

Posted onAuthorMark Stephens4 Comments

So, it looks as if the Building Control Amendment is a step closer as far as I know it was signed into law last Friday. Obviously nothing has happened yet as far as working practice and I’m sure there will be a grace period in order to transition to the new system.

I wrote a short post on the Building Control Amendment HERE and Engineers Ireland (Cork) have a particularly good pdf HERE (err, similar documents from the RIAI please)

What’s interesting (in addition to my previous blog post on the subject is that:

The Owner: Must appoint a competent builder to undertake the works

Now this has big repercussions for self-builders who once obtaining their planning permission and construction drawings are then more likely to start making changes as they go. Are they realistically going to sign a document to say they are building “in accordance with the plans, specifications, calculations ” together with such further
plans ” as have been subsequently certified and submitted”, is this document worth anything. The bottom line is that yet again the certifier will ultimately be liable for errors, certainly not the Local Authority which is what should be happening.

There’s stacks more to say on the subject which will get bundled into future blog posts, such as:

  • Will the division of each certfiable aspect mean that the architect is only left with the bit at the beginning and the end?; Chartered engineers mopping up all the structural, M/E, etc… and then probably also doing the planning too! Nothing new there I hear.
  • How are the ‘non-architects’, ‘non-chartered engineers’ and ‘non-building surveyors’ going to respond, is it too late? Will they have to employ an ‘Assigned Certifier’ to certify their projects?
  • Are Local Authorities ever going to employ Building Control Officers (as per the UK), to undertake site inspections and to take a bit of the responsibility for a change? – this is what really needs to happen.

    As we all know it’s not going to make much difference anyway in the short-term as there’s so little construction happening in Ireland, but will be interesting to see how it pans out in the next 5-15 years.

    Comments as always welcome.

    All advice online is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support – in and of itself – should legal action be taken. Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.