BCAR - Assigned Builder

The Mighty Quinn

Hoping somebody can point me to a definitive answer on the following, i.e., actual lines in legislation, or BCMS references etc.

I have a situation on a large industrial project where the Building Owner wants to be nominated as the Assigned Builder.

The building owner will in essence be acting as the main contractor, i.e., while actually building nothing, the contract with the steel supplier and erector will be with the building owner, the contract for the concrete works will be direct with the building owner, etc.

However it looks like the Assigned Builder must be CIRI registered as a contractor, which of course the Building Owner is not, as they aren't builders.

I rang two different councils about it today. One told me it's not uncommon for the building owner to be assigned builder and didn't need to be CIRI registered, while the second council told me that if the owner was acting as builder, they absolutely needed to be CIRI registered.

I can't find it written down anywhere.

Anybody shed some light?

Metric Tensor

CIRI registration is NOT mandatory. There is no qualification required at all to act in the role of Builder under the BCARs regime.

The legislation doesn't say "no qualification required for the builder" but if you read it front to back it doesn't list any qualification that is required. The second council were completely wrong and the first one was completely right!

(I fully suspect in the fullness of time CIRI registration will be mandatory but it is definitely not at the moment!)

Drop me a PM if I can clarify a bit more!


Edited to add: If the owner is acting as the Builder they should be aware of the fairly hefty level of responsibility that puts on them. And likewise if you are acting as Assigned Certifier beware of the fact that your reputation and signature are tied to this "novice" builder!

Metric Tensor

P.S. On an altogether picky point. There's no such thing as Assigned Builder. It's just "Builder".

For some reason only the certifier is "Assigned"!

Gumbo

The Mighty Quinn wrote: »

Hoping somebody can point me to a definitive answer on the following, i.e., actual lines in legislation, or BCMS references etc.

I have a situation on a large industrial project where the Building Owner wants to be nominated as the Assigned Builder.

The building owner will in essence be acting as the main contractor, i.e., while actually building nothing, the contract with the steel supplier and erector will be with the building owner, the contract for the concrete works will be direct with the building owner, etc.

However it looks like the Assigned Builder must be CIRI registered as a contractor, which of course the Building Owner is not, as they aren't builders.

I rang two different councils about it today. One told me it's not uncommon for the building owner to be assigned builder and didn't need to be CIRI registered, while the second council told me that if the owner was acting as builder, they absolutely needed to be CIRI registered.

I can't find it written down anywhere.

Anybody shed some light?

There’s no such thing as an Assigned Builder.
A builder doesn’t need any form of registration currently.

The Mighty Quinn

I have a BCMS FAQ document, produced by "department of environment, community and local government" (which I believe is a previous incarnation to the present department) and question 11 says...

11. I am building by direct labour, who do I
nominate as the builder?

The Undertaking by a Builder can only be signed by the
builder who, preferably is registered with the Construction
Industry Federation and can provide a ‘Construction
Industry Register Ireland’ (CIRI) number. Further details
can be found on www.cif.ie

As all CIRI builders are not necessarily CIF registered, I've added the strikethrough myself. This seems to imply that the builder does need to be CIRI registered, although being an FAQ, it's not actually in the Code of Practice.

Clear as mud

The Mighty Quinn

Update.

Spoke to somebody in Building Control in a third council I'd left a message with yesterday. Asked him about the FAQ and stipulation of the CIRI registered builder, and he said that originally that was going to be the plan, which is why it was in the FAQ and as far as he knows is still ultimately the intention, but as of yet it is not a requirement.

Thanks all.

Gumbo

The Mighty Quinn wrote: »

Update.

Spoke to somebody in Building Control in a third council I'd left a message with yesterday. Asked him about the FAQ and stipulation of the CIRI registered builder, and he said that originally that was going to be the plan, which is why it was in the FAQ and as far as he knows is still ultimately the intention, but as of yet it is not a requirement.

Thanks all.

As previously pointed out alright, the bolded, coloured text is key here.

11. I am building by direct labour, who do I
nominate as the builder?

The Undertaking by a Builder can only be signed by the
builder who, preferably is registered with the Construction
Industry Federation and can provide a ‘Construction
Industry Register Ireland’ (CIRI) number. Further details
can be found on www.cif.ie