HomeBond defends cautious approach to new prefab housing

HOMEBOND, the national warranty scheme for new housing, has defended the precautionary approach it is taking towards the introduction to Ireland of prefabricated house building systems from other countries.

"There may be some people who think we're being obstructive but we are not prepared to expose this organisation, or the Irish construction industry in general, to the type of risk that manifested itself in British Columbia," said Michael Greene, HomeBond's managing director.

He was referring to a report in these pages last Thursday which said that HomeBond - which is now independent of the Construction Industry Federation - was refusing to accept certificates of fitness from other EU member states, such as Austria, for prefab housing.

"Our objective is to ensure that whatever systems are utilised meet a set of performance criteria which it is generally agreed are appropriate to Irish conditions," Mr Greene said. In particular, they would have to be suitable for the climate here, including driving rain.

He explained that Home Bond's caution in this area was influenced by what had happened in British Columbia. Its counterpart there filed for bankruptcy after being inundated by claims following the failure of a Californian system that proved to be unsuited to British Columbia's wetter climate.

The Californian system had been introduced to Canada's most westerly province as a quick-fix solution for a housing shortage, driven by an economic boom in the late-1980s - not unlike the conditions in Ireland today. But the results were catastrophic for the building industry.

As a result, HomeBond is insisting that any company seeking to introduce a new building system, whether timber-based or otherwise, must be in a position to produce satisfactory evidence that it is suitable for the Irish climate and erected on site by properly trained personnel.

"It would be irresponsible of us to automatically accept certificates of fitness issued by other EU countries," Mr Greene said. "Because of the Canadian experience, we need to look hard at anything which we consider lowers the threshold of risk and ask questions about it."