Australian Commercial Buildings Compliance

As in all developed construction markets, buildings are regulated either directly or by the market to meet minimum standards.

The NCC 2019 – Vol 1, an initiative of the Council of Australian Governments developed to incorporate all on-site construction requirements into a single code, includes Volumes One and Two of the Building Code of Australia and the Plumbing Code of Australia as Volume Three.

As a so-called performance-based code, the NCC sets the minimum required level for the safety, health, amenity, accessibility and sustainability of certain buildings through technical design and construction provisions.

The NCC primarily applies to the design and construction of new and existing buildings, and plumbing and drainage systems. It may also refer to structures associated with buildings and new building work or new plumbing and drainage work in existing buildings.

• Volume One: relates to primarily to Class two to nine building classifications
• Volume Two: relates to Class one and ten buildings classifications
• Volume Three: relates to plumbing and drainage associated with all building classifications.

The primary users of the NCC include architects, builders, plumbers, building surveyors, consultants, engineers and other building and plumbing related professions and trades. It is freely available and as of 2016, republished in 3-year cycles. Within each period, minimum performance provisions are considered for updates or changes in stringency, as the market evolves to meet previous performance requirements.

Speckel and the NCC 2019 – Vol 1 Changes

Speckel makes it easy to get under the hood of the NCC 2019 – Vol 1 changes, whether you’re connecting the dots or looking for answers.

The NCC 2019 – Vol 1 sets minimum performance requirements for residential and commercial buildings. As of the 1st of May 2019, sweeping changes have been introduced to the NCC to help us design and build healthier, safer, more accessible and energy-efficient buildings.

We think better building envelops are a no brainer and provide an open knowledge base to find answers and understand challenges.