BUILDING REGULATION
BUILDING REGULATION IN AUSTRALIA: HOW DID WE GET TO HERE? How did we go from individual state and territory codes to the National Construction Code, and what does the future hold for building regulation? IVAN DONALDSON
Former General Manager, ABCB Building regulations are legal instruments intended to ensure that buildings provide minimum acceptable performance for their occupants and the community.1 Developed over a long period of time, they initially focused on ways to design and construct buildings that reduce the risk to life and property from fire, structural failure and natural hazard events. Progressively, other aspects of building occupants’ health and safety have been included such as protection from falls, improved glazing and the prevention of the accumulation of unacceptable moisture. The 1980s to 1990s was a period of transition from prescription alone to a performance-based national code, originally a Model Code, adopted in part by individual states and territories. This change occurred for a variety of reasons, including: micro-economic reform in the 1980s and early 1990s that favoured contestable services, international competitiveness and deregulation a widening of areas for inclusion in response to community expectations
complexities and limitations of trying to capture all issues in a single regulation for all building types and uses a desire to balance regulatory and market solutions more effectively. Three elements define Australian building regulations: 1. The 2020 InterGovernmental Agreement (IGA)2 This Agreement is central to an understanding of the subject. Oversighted by Commonwealth, state and territory ministers responsible for the sound development of the building industry,3 it drives the Australian Building Codes Board’s (ABCB)4 priorities, including the content and direction of the National Construction Code (NCC)5 . The strategic intent is to improve building outcomes, increase confidence in the building and construction industry, enhance public trust in the safety of the industry, and deliver a more efficient, internationally competitive industry through national reforms to regulation. Its present focus is its response to the complex compliance and enforcement issues raised by the Building Confidence report (BCR)6 written by Professor Peter Shergold AC and Ms Bronwyn Weir.
2. National Construction Code The goal of the NCC is nationally consistent, minimum necessary standards of relevant safety (including structural safety and safety from fire), health and amenity and sustainability objectives. The performance-based NCC does not require particular materials, components, design factors or construction methods and provides a choice of compliance pathways. 3. Systems of compliance and enforcement In 2012, an ABCB report found that reform over the previous 20 years had delivered, and continued to deliver, over $1 bn savings per annum to the community, and that a further $1.1 bn per annum in savings was still achievable. Some of this unrealised reform was NCC specific. However, it also depended on further reductions in local government interventions, elimination of state and territory variations and greater administrative harmonisation.
The modern historical background
Historically, building regulations focused on fire, structural safety and health, the latter having particular ISSUE FOUR 2021
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