The responsibility for health and safety issues in and around the home rests with the homeowner.
Any concerns which a homeowner has regarding health and safety, or structural stability of a home impacted by defective concrete blocks should be investigated by the homeowner’s competent engineer who will be able to advise on the severity of the issue and the appropriate action that should be taken to mitigate any health and safety risk.
The IS:465 standard flags this issue and under para 5.2 (Dwelling Inspection), it states that, as part of the building condition assessment process, where the Chartered Engineer has concerns regarding lack of structural stability (local or otherwise) in the dwelling he/she should advise the owner of any necessary immediate actions.
Any such works called out by the competent engineer in the building condition assessment report, or any supplementary building condition assessment report submitted by a homeowner under the scheme will now be eligible for recoupment under the scheme at a rate of 90% up to a maximum allowable cost of €5,555, once a Stage 1 approval has issued on the home and such costs can be vouched.
Type of Works to be covered
Examples of the type of works which will be covered are:
1. Immediate works identified by the homeowner’s competent engineer as being necessary to deal with any threat to the structural stability of the home as part of the building condition assessment process outlined in clause 5.2 of I.S. 465.
2. Such works include but are not strictly limited to bracing, netting, protection over entry points to the home, chimney repairs/removal, fencing etc.
Works must be identified by the competent engineer in the building condition assessment report (as part of the ‘Building Condition Assessment’ process under Clause 5.2 of I.S. 465.) or a supplementary building condition assessment report.
Select an option below
