Innovation and the obstacles

According to Frank McDonald in the Irish Times (26/4/01), “Nervousness in the construction industry about the use of innovative techniques to build housing faster has been blamed by the partial failure of a Dublin Corporation initiative in the Cherry Orchard area, west of the city. Because of the scarcity of bricklayers and others involved in ‘wet trades’, the corporation sought to make land available for housing of high quality and density that would make use of building systems, including prefabrication. But some of the developers who tendered for the contracts, involving 1,000 new homes, had to eliminate their preferred systems after they had been denied approval under the construction industry’s Homebond insurance scheme.”

One has to wonder why on earth the lads at Construction House are worried about new building techniques. Bearing in mind that only this time last year shoddy application of existing practices was causing payouts under the guarantee scheme that threatened its very existence, this observer would have thought that the industry would welcome the introduction of of-site fabrication and its attendant benefits.
This episode again brings into question the wisdom of a CIF proxy deciding what are and are not acceptable methodologies. Surely this ought to be the responsibility of the state.

Does anybody have any knowledge of what was proposed for this scheme that was so unpalatable?

Monty