History of Building Regulations in Ireland / Building Practices

skids

Hello all,

I'm just wondering if there was any building regulations in Ireland before the TGDLs? In particular I'm interested in the late 1970s. Were there any regulations or practices to be followed?

Regards, skids

Poor Uncle Tom

Yes there were regulations to be followed, the one that immediately comes to mind is the SR6 1975 for the design and construction of the septic tank and percolation area systems.

There were I.S. Standards usually for the grade and performance of materials to be used. There was also what was commonly referred to as Good Building Practices, which was the standard form of building construction and standard of finish taken as being acceptable for any trade.

archtech

Some local authorities had by-laws, which were came from the draft building regulations which were published in the late 70's early 80's.

There would have been various codes of practice alright, blockwork slating etc most of which had origins similar to those in the UK.

The building regulations in Ireland officially kicked into effect in 1992, some 22 years after the UK.

I'm afraid i can't be of any more assistance as I joined the industry just as the building regulations came into effect.

muffler

archtech wrote: »

Some local authorities had by-laws, which were came from the draft building regulations which were published in the late 70's early 80's.

I think Im right in saying that Dublin City Council (or Dublin Corporation as they were then known) had by-laws in force for a number of years pre BC Act/Regs.

I recall seeing the draft regs as far back as the mid 70's but like everything in draft format it counted for zilch when push came to shove..

sydthebeat

was it dublin city and cork city that had by-laws.

Im pretty sure most counties had nothing up to the building regulations.

Corkblowin

Hey Skid,

Syd is correct, there were some bye-laws in the cities & larger towns, but not much else. I did a bit of research for a paper a few years ago - I've pasted in here the relevant parts. As far as I remember, there were drafts of the regs done in the early 80's, but the only one enacted prior to the first regs was Fire - triggered by Stardust. Excuse the waffle - it didn't make the final cut!


Building Regulations were initially provided for under section 86 of the 1963 Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, and matters for which regulations could be prescribed were listed. However these provisions were never enacted and, prior to 1992, there were no national building standards in force throughout the country. Some of the larger City and Town Councils had introduced building bye-laws, operating under powers granted by the Public Health Act (Ireland) 1878. As the National Consumer Agency report notes however, these were thoroughly obsolete by the 1980’s.

The first national building standards in Ireland were introduced by the Building Control Act of 1990 (BCA 1990). They were heavily influenced by UK legislation, where building regulations had been in force since 1966, with revisions in 1972, 1976 and 1985. The Irish version comprises of 13 different sections covering topics such as fire safety, structure, hygiene, ventilation, conservation of fuel and energy, sound and materials.

Prior to 1992 there were no national regulations, although building bye-laws had been in force in parts of the country. It was the 1981 Stardust disaster which gave impetus to the development of the building regulations. In this tragedy, 48 people lost their lives in a fire which swept through a nightclub on the morning of the 14th February. While a definitive cause for the blaze has never been established, one of the principal reasons for the loss of the life was obstructions to many of the fire escape exits. This led to the introduction of the Fire Services Act 1981, which established fire authorities in each Council area and, under section 22 of the Act, gave them powers of entry and inspection of most buildings, except for private dwellings, in the interest of public safety.

The BCA 1990 established that each Local Authority was now to act as the building control authority for their functional area, provided for the introduction, enforcement and monitoring of the building regulations and described penalties for non-compliance. Section 3(2) listed the purposes for which building regulations could be made, including

• Providing for the health safety and welfare of persons about or who may be affected by buildings;
• Providing for the special needs of disabled persons,

The enabling legislation for this section was S.I. 306/1991 and the regulations came into force from the 1st June 1992. In practice, the duties of building control have fallen onto the fire officers, who were already performing building inspections and assessing fire safety certificate applications.

drynne

Hey Corkblowin,
The above stuff is really useful info. Im doing my thesis on building regs and uk building regs. Do u still have any of the sources you used for your project?? Im wading through legislation and technical guidance docs.

Thanks!

MscD

drynne wrote: »

Hey Corkblowin,
The above stuff is really useful info. Im doing my thesis on building regs and uk building regs. Do u still have any of the sources you used for your project?? Im wading through legislation and technical guidance docs.

Thanks!

Im just wondering did you find any good sources of info regarding the building regs?