Certification in Modern Methods of Construction

The National Standards Authority of Ireland is now offering Certifications on the construction stage and sign-off on Modern Methods of Construction (MMOC) products and building system installation compliance under Building Regulations.

This will improve residential construction product assessment processes, including expanding the current NSAI Agrément approach, to ease certification of new building methods, the introduction of sustainable construction materials, and oversight of on-site installation.

NSAI Certification ensures certified products are ‘proper materials’ suitable for their intended use under Irish site conditions, and per the Building Regulations 1997 to 2019. Our emphasis on quality control ensures compliance with established standards and provides reliable and precise building materials to the construction industry here.

 

Housing for All

This action falls under “Housing for All” the government’s housing policy to 2030.

“Housing for All” is a multi-annual, multi-billion-euro plan which will improve Ireland’s housing system and deliver more homes of all types for people with different housing needs.

To apply, a Company must already have completed Agrément Certification, provided by NSAI. This is designed specifically for recently developed building materials, products and processes for which published national standards do not yet exist.

To facilitate the introduction of sustainable construction products, NSAI has commenced planning for the assessment of sustainable construction products in line with the forthcoming review of the EU Construction Products Regulation.

These actions will be taken consistently to the relevant actions set out in the Climate Action Plan to ensure low carbon construction products demonstrate compliance with all other performance requirements.

NSAI also published the Agrement Guide for Modern Methods of Construction under the Housing For All plan, which can be viewed here.

 

NSAI – Modern Methods of Construction

NSAI certifies innovative offsite construction products through the application of rigorous standards looking at all aspects of the process – from components, manufacturing processes, onsite visits, to final sign-off. We have worked with Ireland’s leading offsite manufacturers in the development of their products to a stage where they can be certified to comply with Irish Building Regulations.

NSAI Agrément sets the bar for construction quality in Ireland and has greatly contributed to the development of this sector. In 2021 alone the Irish Government spent over €10 billion on construction projects prescribed by the National Development Plan (NDP) and Project Ireland 2040. Project Ireland 2040 is the national framework in place for the development of physical infrastructure in Ireland for the coming two decades.

Under Project Ireland 2040, Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) will increase modular and offsite manufacturing to higher standards of design, fabrication, testing and certification.

Agrément Certification is central to this.

As the construction industry adopts modern methods such as Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and Building Information Modelling (BIM), it is expected that new and innovative materials and processes will see the construction industry here evolve more rapidly than it has in decades.

IPD is used in construction to increase communication and team efficiencies by providing an integrated approach for personnel, systems and practices while BIM is the process of managing the information produced during design and throughout a construction project.

The synergies found in these integrated project management and construction models will help drive innovations and efficiencies in construction here in Ireland.

NSAI offers certification to ISO 19650, the international standard for managing information over the whole life cycle of a built asset using BIM. While the use of BIM is still in its infancy in the Irish construction sector, its inclusion in public sector tenders and increased training and upskilling by industry professionals will soon see it become more widely used across the country.