New building laws protect owners by regulating design and construction activities

The Design and Practitioners Building Act, which entered into force on 11 June 2020, was introduced as a bill following the recent much-publicized events surrounding flammable clothing. The new building laws are designed to regulate the activities of designers and construction contractors working in construction. In accordance with the law, all building designs must comply with Australia’s building code. Similarly, construction methods must comply with BCA standards.

Currently, 97% of residential properties in New South Wales contain at least one defect. While 50-60% of these relate to design problems, the remaining buildings suffer from the consequences of incorrect construction practices. The most common faults relate to cladding, passive fire protection and waterproofing.

Despite the prevalence of such defects, previous rulings of the High Court of Australia have ruled that there is no obligation to exercise care between builders and owner companies for financial losses due to improper building design or construction. This means that the owners have had to pay the cost of any defects after the client’s guarantees expire (six years for major defects, two years for non-major defects).

Main changes in the new building code:

1. A duty of care is now in place to ensure that building owners are not liable for financial losses due to improper building design and construction.
2. All designers, engineers and contractors must register on a publicly available list of practitioners before embarking on construction work.
3. Design and construction contractors must provide a guarantee that building standards comply with the Building Code of Australia before a building certificate is issued.
4. Providers of conformity guarantees must be insured before submitting their declaration.
5. The Secretary of the Customer Service Department now has reason to take disciplinary action against a registered practitioner. Disciplinary action may include fines or suspended registration.
6. A work stoppage order may be issued by law enforcement if the building design and construction do not comply with the BCA standards.

Architects’ Declaration of Conformity

Architects are now required by the new building codes to declare whether their building design complies with the Building Code of Australia. They must also state whether other standards or codes have been used in the design.

Australia’s Building Code requires architects, designers, engineers and other specialists involved in the planning, design and construction of buildings to ensure that all products, materials or systems specified or approved for use in their designs are approved as well as for purpose ‘, and meet the required performance requirements. When designing fire safety features such as fire shutters, smoke curtains, fire windows, fire doors and smoke vents, architects can use products provided by Smoke Control.

Smoke Control fire safety products meet and exceed Building Code of Australia standards and also exceed the minimum requirements for fire and smoke testing. Our products are often tested by the Warnock Hersey Mark Framework, the world’s largest product compliance scheme. Our manufactured products are consistently in compliance with fire test approvals and should not be replaced with other similar products.

By specifying approved products in building design and construction, architects can ensure that they comply with the new laws. Architects can be assured that they will pass mandatory critical inspections by using safe and certified materials provided by Smoke Control in the design of fire and smoke spaces in building construction.

Contact Smoke Control for fire protection systems

Smoke Control supplies and installs fire curtains, fire shutters, smoke curtains, fire windows, fireproof windows, smoke vents, sliding fire doors and other special systems in buildings across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Contact our technical team if you have any questions about how to protect your property from fire hazard. We recommend products based on your situation and install everything for an affordable fee.