Category: Building Control

Building Regulations The legislation gives the Minister priority to make building regulations.  Building regulations may be made in relation to the design and construction of buildings, material alterations or extension of buildings the provision of  services, fittings and equipment in, or in connection with buildings, material changes in the use of buildings to secure the […]

Building Control Procedure The Building Control Act came into force on 1st June 1992. Each City and County Council is building control authority for its area. Formerly  Town Councils, which were the former Urban District Councils were building control authorities for their areas until absorption into the County Councils. The Minister for the Environment and […]

Enforcement Notices An enforcement order may be served where there is a breach of the regulations by way of construction, a material change of use or material alteration of a building, in circumstances where the building control authority would not be prepared to give a dispensation or a relaxation. A five-year time limit applies to […]

Opt Out for One Off Houses & Extensions In 2015, amendments were made to the Building Control Regulations to ease the burden on domestic extensions and  one-off type developments. An owner who intends to build a dwelling for his own use may take the role of the builder for building control purposes. He may sign the statutory […]

Structure A structure, a building shall be designed and constructed with the due regard to the theory and practice of structural engineering so as to ensure that the combined actions that are allowable to act on it are sustained and transmitted to the ground safely and without causing such deflection or deformation of any part […]

Background The Multi-Storey Building Act 1988 was passed in response to the collapse of a block of flats in Sandymount.  It applied only to buildings of five or more stories, built before 1950.  A basement is counted as a storey for this purpose. The Act predated the adoption of national building regulations and a system […]