New DevelopmentsIreland is witnessing a "serious depletion" of housing stock and its replacement with a "mish-mash" of apartment buildings, says chairman of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIARB) in Ireland Dermot Roughan.

He asked whether the current apartment-living culture was the best that we could do for our young people.

Roughan was speaking last Friday in Dublin at the 25th annual dinner of the Irish branch. He predicted that the "incredible amount of new apartment units being built" would lead to construction disputes that would go to arbitration.

Little thought was being given to the future well-being of our housing stock, he said. And he questioned the build quality of some of the apartment developments.

These apartment buildings, though nominally complying with Building Regulations, often failed to achieve or improve on acceptable sound insulation requirements and bin storage waste disposal standards, he said."The total lack of storage is mind-boggling and certainly not family user friendly."

He questioned what could be done to counteract this, saying that the regulators "who used to be omnipresent in the days of building bye-laws are no longer functional and their roles have been taken over by the developers".

He also argued there was a "sea change" in the philosophy of the local authorities when considering developments in Ireland. "In my opinion, the infrastructural needs of the regions are not being addressed and, indeed, the planning statements of 35 years ago may have been the correct ones."

A civil and structural engineer, Roughan heads up the arbitration consultancy Roughan ADR Services. He told his audience that "the main criteria in the selection of these residential blocks appear to be in increasing the number of units and storeys on offer".

He said that planning approvals were slowing down in some parts of the Dublin region due to fresh water issues. "Permissions are to be restricted in the future to developments that pump fresh water from the Shannon region - a distance of 200kms. Does this come under the well-used planners phrase, 'the proper planning and development of the area?' I doubt it."