Primary legislation and amendments
The Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) Order 1979 is the primary legislation for building regulations in Northern Ireland. It came into operation in January 1980.
The Order was amended in 1990 by the Planning and Building Regulations (Amendment) (NI) Order 1990 and the Building Regulations (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009.
The Order sets out the powers, duties, responsibilities and rights granted to the department, district councils and applicants in relation to building regulations matters. This includes giving the department responsibility for writing regulations in the form of secondary, or subordinate, legislation. The department may also prepare guidance for the purposes of building regulations.
It establishes various rights of appeal for applicants, and creates a number of offences for non-compliance with the requirements of building regulations.
The provisions of the primary legislation have been commenced by the:
- Building Regulations (1979 Order) (Commencement No.3) Order (Northern Ireland) 2012
- Building Regulations (2009 Amendment Act) (Commencement No.2) Order (Northern Ireland) 2012
- Building Regulations (2009 Amendment Act) (Commencement) Order (Northern Ireland) 2009
- Building Regulations (1979 Order) (Commencement No.2) Order (Northern Ireland) 1982
- Building Regulations (1979 Order) (Commencement No.1) Order (Northern Ireland) 1980