The Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (the Act) sets out the role of the Housing Agency who act as agents on behalf of the local authorities under the terms of the Scheme. Once a home has met the damage threshold for entry to the scheme, the Housing Agency engage its Framework Chartered Engineers to undertake the assessment, survey, sampling, testing and categorisation of the dwelling thereafter on a priority basis in accordance with the national standard I.S. 465:2018 and thereafter determine the appropriate remediation option and grant amount in accordance with the provision of the Act.
Therefore, the Housing Agency applies I.S. 465:2018 in its current form when determining the appropriate remediation option. The Housing Agency does not comment on individual determinations, however decisions regarding determining the most appropriate remediation option are laid out in the Act, and the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Regulations 2023
The Act also provides a mechanism for a homeowner to appeal decisions on their application at various stages as set out below which includes the determination of remediation option by the Housing Agency.
1.A refusal by a local authority to refer an application to the Housing Agency,
2.A decision by the Housing Agency in respect of a dwelling having met the damage threshold,
3.A determination by the Housing Agency of the appropriate remediation option and grant for a dwelling and
4.A refusal of a local authority to make payment of a grant approved
The NSAI is Ireland’s official standards body and is an autonomous body under the aegis of the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment. They are currently reviewing IS465. My understanding is that they have committed that where there are viable updates, they will come forward with those in advance of the completion of the full agreed program of necessary research.
Following the publication of any revised standard published by the NSAI, the enhanced DCB scheme will be reviewed at that point, in the event that such amendments are required.
