I propose to take Questions Nos. 81, 83 and 84 together.
Housing for All is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. Over 300,000 new homes will be built by the end of 2030, including a projected 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes.
The Plan is backed by historic levels of investment with in excess of €20bn through the Exchequer, the Land Development Agency and the Housing Finance Agency over the next 5 years. This will provide the sector with the stability and certainty it needs.
The Building Regulations 1997-2021 set out the legal requirements for the construction of new buildings (including houses), extensions to existing buildings as well as for material alterations and certain material changes of use to existing buildings. Their aim is to provide for the safety and welfare of people in and about buildings. The minimum performance requirements that a building must achieve are set out in the Second Schedule to the Building Regulations. These requirements are set out in 12 parts (classified as Parts A to M). The Building Regulations are set out in functional terms. They are performance based and technology/material neutral. Primary responsibility for compliance with the Building Regulations rests with the designers, builders and owners of buildings.
The associated Technical Guidance Documents (TGD A - M respectively) provide technical guidance on how to comply with the Building Regulations in practical terms for simple non-complex buildings. Where works are carried out in accordance with the relevant technical guidance, such works are considered to be, prima facie, in compliance with the relevant regulations. However, the adoption of an approach other than that outlined in the guidance is not precluded provided that the relevant requirements of the Regulations are complied with.
Part D (Materials and Workmanship) requires that all works should be carried out in a workmanlike manner using “proper materials…which are fit for the use for which they are intended and for the conditions in which they are to be used” to ensure compliance with the Building Regulations.
‘Proper Materials’ includes materials which comply with an appropriate harmonised standard or European Technical Assessment or comply with an appropriate Irish Standard or Irish Agrément Certificate or with an alternative national technical specification of any State which is a contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, which provides in use an equivalent level of safety and suitability.
For new innovative products or systems, not covered by existing standards, compliance with the Building Regulations can be demonstrated by 3rd party certification by an independent approval body, such as National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) Agrément.
I.S.440: 2009+A1:2014 Timber Frame Construction, Dwellings and other Buildings is the Irish standard on timber frame construction (as referenced in Technical Guidance Document A 2012 and Technical Guidance Document B Vol 2 2017). I.S. 440 refers to responsibilities, materials, design, manufacture, construction details, site work and services.
Manufacturers of timber frame buildings are assessed under an approval scheme operated by the NSAI for compliance with I.S. 440 requirements including Factory Production Control (FPC). A register of compliant manufacturers is available on the NSAI website at www.nsai.ie/certification/.
My Department does not approve or endorse products for compliance with the Building Regulations or standards. It is critical to ensure that products, systems, and ultimately buildings which are comprised of such products and systems, are designed, constructed, and certified, as fit for purpose, having regard to their intended end use.
Finally, issues relating to forestry wood supply industry are a matter for my colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
