About Building Control

The Building Control Section is responsible for administering the Building Control Regulations and promoting compliance with the Building Regulations in the Fingal area. Building Control aims to encourage and support building owners, designers and builders in delivering compliant, sustainable, high-quality buildings. The responsibility for compliance with building regulations rests with designers, builders and owners of buildings. 

Building Control deliver effective public oversight of compliance with Building Regulations by inspecting active construction sites and new buildings under construction. Fingal’s Building Control Engineers and Building Control Inspectors carry out a large number of these inspections every year across Fingal.

The Building Control Regulations apply to the design and construction of new buildings, extensions and material alterations to, and certain changes in the use of, existing buildings.

On these pages you will find further information on Disability Access Certs, Fire Safety Certs and Commencement Notices all of which may be submitted online and paperless using the BCMS portal. The BCMS is the national Building Control Management System delivered by the National Building Control and Market Surveillance Office. A BCMS account is required to submit all applications. You can register for a BCMS account at the link here -  Building Control Management System (BCMS). 

 

**The information contained here is intended to provide practical guidance and is not a definitive legal interpretation of building control law.**

Building Regulations Enforcement

Councils regulate the design and construction of new buildings, altered buildings or buildings undergoing a change of use to ensure that they are compliant with the Building Regulations including fire safety, accessibility and proper planning and building control procedures.

For information on Fire Safety Certificates click here. and Disability Access Certificates, click here  
For specific information on Unauthorised Developments and Planning Enforcement see here.

Construction Products Regulations (CPR) Enforcement

From July 2013, CE MARKING of construction products covered by harmonised European Standards is mandatory.
Manufacturers, importers and distributors have new obligations and responsibilities when placing a construction product on the market.
Designers, specifiers and builders must be aware and understand the new requirements on construction products. 

Introduction

The EU Construction Products Regulation (No.305/2011 – CPR) lays down harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products and is directly applicable in its entirety in Irish law.  It is therefore essential that all parties to the construction product supply chain learn and understand its requirements. 

What are the main provisions of the CPR? 

The general objectives and main instruments of the Construction Products Directive (CPD) have not changed in the CPR.  The CPD, as an internal market Directive, aims to overcome the technical barriers to trade which arise where different countries in Europe have different standards, testing and labelling approaches for the same construction products.  The CPR shares this goal and is intended to clarify, simplify and improve the credibility of the system.  The CPR will continue to use the instruments developed for the CPD but introduces stricter and more transparent procedures and amends some of the terminology in order to be more precise. 

The four key instruments are:

A system of harmonised technical specifications
An agreed system of Assessment and Verification of Constancy of Performance as above
A framework of notified bodies
The CE Marking label. 

Authorised Officers

Fingal County Council have appointed authorised officers under Regulation 11 of the European Union (Construction Products) Regulations 2013 for the purposes these regulations.  
These officers are:

Address: Building Control Admin, Planning & Strategic Infrastructure Department, Fingal County Council, County Hall, Main Street, Swords, K67 X8Y2      
Tel: 01 890500 Email: <em>span>[email protected]