Call for update of system to protect new home purchasers

The system for protecting purchasers of new homes needs to be updated to cope with innovative building materials and technologies, according to the president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI).

Addressing the National Housing Conference in Limerick yesterday, Mr Toal Ó Muiré recalled that the High Court had said that compliance with planning permission and building regulations is part of the legal title to a house or building.

The usual way of doing this is for the vendor to vouch through an architect's opinion that it complies with the Building Regulations. But Mr Ó Muiré said this form of self-regulation, which had proved reasonably effective, had two longer-term flaws.

Firstly, opinions on compliance are not always provided when buildings are resold. Up to 50 per cent of commercial properties put on the market contain a special condition of sale stating that no opinion on compliance will be provided.

Secondly, he said, the state of local authority planning files was such that it was often difficult to obtain information on the design and construction of buildings more than 10 or 12 years old and "virtually impossible" to obtain building by-law files.

Mr Ó Muiré said the RIAI was working with other professional bodies to submit a proposal to the Department of the Environment to make opinions on compliance a statutory requirement under the Building Control Act, with a view to protecting the public.

He also said the system of certification process for new building products and systems, undertaken by the Irish Agrément Board (IAB), needs to be improved as an essential underpinning to the system of opinions on compliance.

The National Housing Conference, jointly organised by the RIAI and the Department of the Environment, was opened by the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr Noel Ahern, who paid tribute to the building industry on its output of housing in recent years.

Noting that 2002 was the eighth consecutive year of record housing output, with new house completions of just under 57,700 units, Mr Ahern said innovative building systems were "certainly worthwhile", but without losing sight of quality in design and construction.