Impacts on One-off Housing Arising from Amended Building Control Regulations in Ireland

Single rural housing is very common in the Irish countryside. The Irish Central Statistics Office reported that one-off housing represented over a quarter of the total number of households in 2011. One-off houses are defined as occupied detached houses with individual septic tank wastewater treatment systems in rural areas (which include towns with a population of 1,500 or less). The purpose of this study is to determine the increased cost to the consumer resulting from the introduction of the new Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014. In order to achieve the objective, a detailed description of past and current building control systems operating in Ireland is presented. Phenomenal growth was recorded in the construction industry between 2000 and 2007. This period saw the construction of new housing units peak at 93,000 in 2006. Unfortunately, this increase in output was associated with a decrease in the standard of building work being carried out. Many attribute this fall in standards to the inadequate building control system in place. This system did little by way of protecting the Irish consumer. This sub-standard method of building control led to the reputation of the construction industry being irreparably damaged as builders and other professionals failed to work in a manner of compliance and accountability. This culture of non-compliance resulted in many publicised cases involving defective materials and unsatisfactory workmanship. This led to the introduction of the Building Control (Amendment) Regulations 2014. For the purpose of gathering information on this topic, the author utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods in the form of questionnaires and interviews. The revised system of building control should increase the standard of building work in the case of all building types. A series of measures has been implemented, the most important of which is that a registered professional will be employed to monitor the ongoing progress of each project and at the end of the project will have to certify that all Building Regulations have been complied with during the construction process. The research has revealed the costs that will be borne by the consumer as a consequence of increased design work and ongoing inspection activities.