Building Code

Congratulations to our Managing Director, Robert Marinelli, on being appointed as a member of the Property Council National Building Regulation Roundtable Committee.

This committee manages the Property Council’s response to regulations affecting the property sector and ensures any building controls or government policies are reasonable, cost-effective and help drive innovation.

Philip Chun is Australia’s largest multi-disciplinary consulting company providing building code, fire & life safety, accessibility and essential safety measures to the construction and development industry.

The consultancy helps clients meet their building and development goals while ensuring all aspects of building compliance are met.

In March this year, papers were filed in the Victorian Supreme Court alleging breach of contract by the Consultancy, among other listed respondents, regarding external paneling on Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital.

While the revisions to the building code announced late February 2018 ruled out the use of polyethylene-core aluminium cladding, there were no such restrictions at the time the hospital contract was awarded in 2005.

The matter is now before the court, with a directions hearing scheduled for October 2018.

For any enquiries, please contact the Philip Chun office in your state.

The NCC 2016 Volume One Amendment 1 applicable to all States and Territories came into effect on 12th March 2018. These amendments relate to changes relating to fire safety in high rise buildings and evidence of suitability.

The amendments include the following:

1. The introduction of a new Verification Method (CV3) for testing of external wall assemblies for fire propagation. CV3 references a new testing standard, AS 5113-2016 ‘Fire propagation testing and classification of external walls of buildings’, and in most circumstances requires additional measures (e.g. enhanced sprinkler protection) to mitigate the hazard presented by a combustible façade.
2. Revision of the NCC’s evidence of suitability provisions, including clarifying the application and language of A2.2, strengthened wording of the current options, and a new requirement to consider the ‘appropriateness’ of the evidence being presented to support the use of the material, product, design or form of construction.
3. Clarification of provisions, including provisions relating to external wall claddings and attachments, provisions that provide exemption to the non-combustibility requirements, and provisions that control the fire hazard properties of building elements.
4. Increased stringency for the sprinkler protection of balconies of residential high rise buildings through referencing an updated sprinkler standard, AS 2118.1-2017 ‘Automatic fire sprinkler systems – General systems’

Full details on the regarding Amendment 1 can be downloaded from the ABCB website.

https://www.abcb.gov.au/Resources/Publications/Consultation/Summary-of-changes-NCC-2016-Volume-One-Amendment-1

For any assistance in interpreting these changes, please contact us.

Published September 2017

Have you even wondered what a certifier does or what they are responsible for?  See our first in a series of videos to answer these questions

Published August 2017

The NSW Government has passed reforms to the NSW building regulation and certification system. The reforms have been issued in the Environmental Planning Assessment Amendment (Fire Safety and Building Certification) Regulation 2017, published in early July 2017. The changes come into effect from the 1st of October 2017 and are part of the state governments response to the final report on the statutory review of the Building Professionals Act 2005, also known as the Lambert Review.

What are the reforms?

The reforms cover a broad range of buildings through all stages of the construction cycle, including the design, construction, pre-occupation and post-occupation stages in both new and existing buildings.

The reforms include but are not limited to:

• The introduction of a Competent Fire Safety Practitioner in the legislative approval process;
• Mandating the involvement of Competent Fire Safety Practitioners in certain specialist fire safety design and installation functions;
• The requirement to submit plans and specifications for any work to relevant fire safety systems in class 2 – 9 buildings, rather than reliance only on design intent statements;
• New critical stage inspections for class 2, 3, 4, 9a and 9c buildings, related to the fire rating of services penetrations and inspection of fire rated walls prior to covering;
• New inspections of fire safety system work relating to Class 2 and 3 buildings by Fire and Rescue NSW before occupation certificates (OCs) are issued with notification of the inspection required 10 days prior to issue of Occupation Certificate;
• Requiring a Performance Solution report for all fire safety Performance Solutions for class 1b – 9 buildings;
• Requiring fire safety certificates and statements to be in an approved form.

The Government is also working on a separate project to provide clear guidance on an accreditation framework for “Competent Fire Safety Practitioners”. At present there is no Government approved scheme in place for this function, which means in the interim it will be at the discretion of your certifier to determine who qualifies as a “Competent Fire Safety Practitioner”.

What does this mean for you?

• A significant increase in mandatory inspections particularly with residential apartments and other sleeping quarters such as hotels and boarding houses;
• The need for a greater level of communication between the builder and the certifier to ensure they have scheduled in the inspections ahead of time as missed inspections may lead to the inability to issue Occupation Certificates;
• A much higher level of overall design documentation even for smaller projects such as tenancy fitouts;
• The requirement for a “Competent Fire Safety Practitioner” to endorse the required fire safety system documentation provided as compliant with the relevant requirements.

This means if builders, project managers and developers have an existing relationship with a company that has been undertaking their fire system design, the company will need to have someone accredited as a Competent Fire Safety Practitioner to endorse their designs.

These newly defined required fire safety systems include:

• Fire sprinkler systems,
• Fire hydrant and hose reel systems,
• Fire detection and alarm systems, and
• Mechanical ducted smoke exhaust systems.

Does this affect your current project? 

If your Development Application (DA) or Complying Development Certificate (CDC) has not been issued by the 1st of October 2017, the above mentioned additional requirements will apply to your project. 

Class 2 and 3 projects where the Occupation Certificate has not been issued before the 1^st October 2017, will, after the 1^st October need a Fire and Rescue NSW inspection request at least 10 days prior to Occupation Certificate.

For further information on the regulation changes please contact your consultant at Philip Chun or go to: Download PDF

This story is intended to provide general information. It does not constitute advice and should not be treated as such. Should you require advice, please contact our office.

Published March 2017

The NSW Government is proposing substantial structural changes to the process of fire services design and commercial building certification. The changes are not cosmetic – they will affect what is documented for approval, designer suitability and involve more inspections and accountability for sign off at completion.

The proposed changes have not simply copied other states by licencing most designers and installers, but seek to target fire safety components to achieve better quality design, approvals and completed construction.

There is little doubt that for parts of the industry, the fire safety reforms proposed for New South Wales will take more time to document, approve and inspect. If carefully implemented, monitored and improved over the next couple of years, we at Philip Chun are optimistic that the changes will improve accountability for completed works and the quality of installed fire services in buildings.

This will replace the current situation in New South Wales, where there are little or no controls over who designs or installs most of the fire safety systems in commercial buildings. 

For example, the person who installed your home theatre system may well have installed the smoke detection system in the high rise building you work in – because none of this work requires a licensed electrician.

Industry bodies that represent Accredited Certifiers have been asking for change in this area for many years. Accredited Certifiers regularly face refusal by contractors to provide a copy of their license for fire safety installation and even some of the largest international companies only provide their qualifications and CVs to a certifier with bitter resentment. The proposed changes will address this ‘cartel’ type situation.

The state government’s carefully crafted proposal should be a game changer if carefully implemented and policed. We have summarised the proposed changes (to legislation NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2000) and provided some comments below.

1. Involvement of competent fire safety practitioners in certain specialist fire safety functions
Some of the proposed reforms require the use of a ‘competent fire safety practitioner’ (see point 2 below) and as such, the NSW Government is aiming to (i) clarify what it means to be a competent fire safety practitioner and (ii) create a co-regulatory accreditation framework, which recognises industry bodies and their accreditation schemes (that cover the fire safety functions that require a competent fire safety practitioner).

2. Submission of plans and specifications for relevant fire safety system work relating to class 2 – 9 buildings
Before the installation, extension or modification of relevant fire safety systems, the new regulation will require plans and specifications for fire safety system work to be endorsed (as compliant with relevant requirements) by a competent fire safety practitioner and submitted to the certifying authority. We at Philip Chun have recommended to the state government that this should be prior to approval; otherwise it could be abused and ignored by some.

3. Limited exemptions from compliance with some Building Code of Australia standards relating to relevant fire safety system work
The proposed regulation will provide some flexibility around minor relevant fire safety system work associated with alterations and additions to existing buildings. We have recommended against this in our submission to the NSW Government, as we believe this will result in ‘a race to the bottom’ in terms of quality, as has been seen in Victoria.

4. New critical stage inspections for Class 2 – 9 buildings
Two new critical stage inspections are proposed to the list of inspections under clause 162A of the regulation for Class 2-9 buildings. These relate to the fire rating of services penetrations and inspection of fire rated walls prior to covering.

5. New inspections of fire safety system work relating to Class 2 and 3 buildings by Fire and Rescue NSW before occupation certificates are issued
It is proposed that the Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW’s) current inspection role be expanded, whereby the FRNSW would have the discretion to inspect and assess fire safety system work relating to multi-unit residential (Class 2 and 3) buildings (where there is an installation, extension or modification of a relevant fire safety systems). While this will increase costs and in some cases delay the issue of occupation certification, developers who choose their designers and installers for their thoroughness rather than just their fee, should have far less trouble completing and handing over their buildings. The potential issues are seen to be:

• in the capability of FRNSW to resource their increased role and be consistent in their reporting.
• as the inspection will apply to new work to existing buildings, the temptation to require a fire system upgrade as part of the inspection report and going beyond the scope of the new work could have great implications for building owners. 

6. Submission of an Alternative (Performance) Solution report for all fire safety Alternative Solutions for Class 1b – 9 buildings
The proposed regulation will require a report to be submitted to the certifying authority for endorsement for all fire safety Alternative Solutions that apply to a Class 1b to 9 building development. The complying development certificate or construction certificate would not be able to be issued without this report and the certifier’s endorsement. This means those in the industry (architects, builders, project managers) will be working with competent fire safety practitioners in the near future.

7. Fire safety certificates and statements to be in a form approved by the Secretary of the Department of Planning and Environment
The new regulation will require the principal certifying authority (PCA) to be satisfied that all accepted fire safety Alternative Solutions have been constructed or installed in accordance with the associated Alternative Solution Reports. While this requirement is consistent with the existing responsibility of the PCA, the new regulation will clarify the PCA’s responsibility on Alternative Solutions. There is some concern that this crosses the line where Accredited Certifiers move from being an independent public authority, to that of a certifier of construction components. Submissions have been made to state government regarding these concerns.

The NSW Government is now reviewing stakeholder feedback on the draft regulation changes. The regulation is expected to be finalised later this year.

For further information on the regulation changes contact Rod Shepherd rod.shepherd@philipchun.com or go to DOWNLOAD PDF.

This story is intended to provide general information. It does not constitute advice and should not be treated as such. Should you require advice, please contact our office.