Building regulatory reform in Australia
Abstract
The regulatory landscape related to building control in Australia is complex. While there is a single performance based technical requirement in common for building work there are eight state and territory governments and the commonwealth government, each with a different legislative framework for dealing with development activities. Each has adopted some form of private participation model. In the view of AIBS, Australian government structures and policy implementation with respect to building control is not working. In September 2017, AIBS released a Policy: ‘Building Regulatory Reform in Australia’, a document describing a legislative framework, which has the capacity to deal with emergent issues such as non-conforming building products in a way that supports the benefits of private participation. This paper sets out why and how AIBS has developed its policy, the policy content and how the content interrelates to other elements of the legislative landscape. It describes the importance of elements in supporting the successful implementation of a performance based technical code and how this will support the competitiveness of Australia’s economy. It also provides the integral components for a robust building control system that supports a sustainable building industry providing better outcomes for consumers and industry.
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Author's Biography
Wayne Liddy is a Director of the Gardner Group Pty Ltd, a multi-skilled building surveying and consultancy company, and a Fellow, Vice President and Board Director of the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS). He is currently the AIBS nominated representative on the Building Advisory Council in Victoria. He is a former Chair of the AIBS National Technical Committee and also served as a member of the AIBS National Education Committee. Wayne has served on the Building Practitioners Board, Victoria. He has also tutored at Melbourne University ‘Construction Regulation A’ — Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. He has overseen the AIBS response to the Victorian Black Saturday bushfires, including the preparation of the position paper and witness statement for the Bushfire Royal Commission. More recently Wayne played a key role in the development of the AIBS submission to the inquiry by the Senate into Non-Conforming Products External Wall Cladding and represented AIBS on the Victorian Cladding Taskforce. Having worked and consulted in both the private and public sector for over 25 years, Wayne has broad ranging skills and experiences, both in the construction industry and specifically in relation to the area of building control. He has strengths in problem solving and coordination and has a practical approach to project implementation.
Jeremy Turner has over 22 years’ professional experience in building surveying, predominantly in a local government setting, and has held accreditation at Level 1 (Building Surveyor) for over 18 years. Jeremy has worked on some of South Australia’s most iconic projects including the Adelaide Oval redevelopment, the SAHMRI building and the New Royal Adelaide Hospital project, and has served the Building Fire Safety Committee for the City of Marion and the City of Adelaide in South Australia as an appointed officer of both. Jeremy also spent 19 years serving the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS) in various voluntary roles and has recently followed his passion for the building surveying profession and taken up the position of National Technical Manager with AIBS. Jeremy is an Engineering Technologist and has a Batchelor of Building from the University of South Australia and a Graduate Certificate in Civil (Structural) Engineering from the University of Adelaide.
Citation
Liddy, Wayne and Turner, Jeremy (2018, June 1). Building regulatory reform in Australia. In the Journal of Building Survey, Appraisal & Valuation, Volume 7, Issue 1. https://doi.org/10.69554/BMMN3255.
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