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Pipework Installations

January 27 2010

To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that inadequate pipework installations routinely happened in the past and are continuing to happen in the absence of any regulations regarding same; if he will review the situation with a view to setting up an enforceable standard within a short period; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

I refer to the reply by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to Question Nos. 301 and 295 on today’s Order Paper which deals with grant assistance for heating control systems available through Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI).

Part L – Conservation of Fuel and Energy – of the Building Regulations addresses energy efficiency in dwellings.  The current requirement in this regard includes the provision and commissioning of energy efficient space and water heating systems with efficient heat sources and effective controls.  This requirement applies to space heating and hot water systems in new dwellings and to the replacement of such systems in existing dwellings undergoing material alterations. Technical Guidance Document L further addresses the construction quality and commissioning of services.  A further publication Heating and Domestic Hot Water Systems for dwellings – Achieving compliance with Part L 2008, produced jointly by my Department and SEI, covers conventional means of providing space heating and domestic hot water for dwellings in Ireland.

Part D of the Building Regulations deals with Materials and Workmanship. It stipulates that all works are to be carried out with proper materials and in a workmanlike manner. It defines proper materials as those materials which are fit for the use for which they are intended and for the conditions in which they are to be used. This includes materials which:-
  ·  bear a CE Marking in accordance with the EU Construction Products Directive; or
  ·  comply with an appropriate harmonised standard, a European Technical approval or a national technical specification; or
  ·  comply with an appropriate Irish Standard or Irish Agrement Board Certificate or with an alternative national technical specification of another   State which provides an equivalent level of safety and suitability.

Building Regulations were first introduced in 1992 and have been, and continue to be, subject to review and improvement in the light of technical progress and developments generally within the construction industry.  The Building Regulations requirement applying today would not, of course, have been in force at the time of construction of a considerable proportion of the current national housing stock.

I understand that the National Standards Authority of Ireland, which is under the remit of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, set up an Expert Group to examine the area of heating and plumbing in December 2006. On foot of this, work has advanced on a Standard Recommendation for Heating and Plumbing, ‘SR50, Code of Practice for Domestic Plumbing and Heating - Design, Implementation, Commissioning & Maintenance’.  A public consultation on this Code of Practice is due to take place shortly.  The Code of Practice will cover all types of domestic heating and hot and cold water services. It is also expected that a registration/certification system will be set up for installers of heating and plumbing systems.

 

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