13 April 2005

Environment

Building Regulations

Ciarán Cuffe asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on whether most new apartment developments comply with Part M of the Building Regulations; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government:  

Half-yearly statistics on enforcement of the Building Regulations, furnished by local building control authorities to my Department, do not give a breakdown by building type or for each of the 12 Parts (A to M) of the Regulations. 

On the general issue of compliance with Part M, I refer to the reply to Question No. 1080 of 12 April 2005.

[Under the Building Control Act 1990, compliance with Part M (Access of People with Disabilities) of the Building Regulations is primarily the responsibility of the designers, builders and owners of buildings. Enforcement of Part M is the function of the local building control authority.

My Department, with the cooperation of building control authorities, carried a survey of such compliance in the case of non-domestic buildings in 2003, as part of the European Year of People with Disabilities. Almost 600 buildings were covered by the survey, of which over one-third did not fully comply with Part M. Local authorities generally sought to achieve full compliance by either seeking the cooperation of building owners or by instituting enforcement action. The survey results confirm a disappointing level of compliance with Part M. My Department has, for some years, been pressing building control authorities to step up enforcement generally and, in particular, to give priority to enforcement of Part M.

However, it is clear that seeking full compliance with Part M in a completed building involves serious practical problems; and that such problems should be avoided by checking compliance at the design stage. Accordingly, the proposed Building Control (Amendment) Bill 2005 will provide for the introduction of a Disability Access Certificate (DAC) system, as recommended by the Report of the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities. Under this system, the designs of non domestic buildings and apartment blocks will have to be certified by the local building control authority as compliant with Part M before work commences. This will be similar to the existing Fire Safety Certificate (FSC) system, whereby designs are certified as compliant with Part B (Fire Safety) of the Building Regulations.

Part M of the Building Regulations 1997 required disabled access within a building, but this was restricted to “those parts of a building to which it is reasonable to have access”. This restriction has been removed by amending Part M Regulations made in 2000 which now require, without qualification that adequate provision shall be made to enable people with disabilities to independently access and use a building.]