Status of review of I.S. 465 – 13th December 2024
NSAI recognises the urgency of the review of I.S. 465 and continues to treat this as top priority. This work is consistently driven by a desire to provide certainty and assurance for those utilising the standard in their work and NSAI’s mandate as a public body to deliver a crucial public service in facilitating this work.
As Ireland’s official Standards Body, NSAI is currently facilitating the review of I.S. 465 by availing of the experience and expertise of the voluntary members of NSAI’s Technical Committee, NSAI/TC 63“Concrete Blocks”. These members represent a wide range of stakeholders, including homeowners, to deliver on this crucial work. NSAI also facilitates NSAI/TC 73 “DCB Technical matters Steering Group” which is made up of all of the state stakeholder organisations associated with the issue of Defective Concrete Blocks*.
Next Steps in Relation to the Review of I.S. 465
In line with the last update from NSAI in relation to this process, NSAI had been making provision to launch the draft amendment to I.S. 465, revising the sampling and testing protocol, for a period of public consultation in Q4 2024. However, following careful deliberation with stakeholders, a more expeditious route to a revision of I.S. 465 has now been identified.
In light of the recent receipt of a substantive portion of the GSI research results and draft summary conclusions critical in understanding the long-term risk associated with the presence of certain deleterious materials, NSAI/TC 63 can now deliberate further on remediation options and foundations for inclusion in I.S. 465. It is on foot of this, a decision has been reached between all stakeholders in the group that the course of action in the best interests of all stakeholders is to proceed straight to the development of a draft of a fully revised 2nd edition of I.S. 465 for public consultation in Q1 2025.
This decision has been taken as it is deemed to deliver the most effective solution in the shortest possible timeframe in light of the ongoing commitment from all stakeholders to keep evolving circumstances under constant review to maximise delivery.
Details of the public consultation will be shared publicly and access to the public consultation draft will be provided through the NSAI “Your Standards, Your Say” platform, accessed via the NSAI website.
Contact IS465@nsai.ie with any enquiries on the review of I.S. 465.
*The members of NSAI/TC 73 are: Geological Survey Ireland (GSI), Housing Agency, the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI), Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH), Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), Chairs of the relevant NSAI technical committees
