BCA 2010 - ABCB - Australian Building Codes Board

BULLETIN 

AUSTRALIAN BUILDING REGULATION 

TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR BUILDING CODE USERS 

AUTUMN 2010 

BCA 2010 

INFORMATION SEMINARS 

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION CHALLENGES FOR 

THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT 

GLAZING SYSTEMS COMPARED FOR BCA 2010 VOLUME TWO 

DRAFT STANDARD FOR PRIVATE BUSHFIRE SHELTERS 

BUILDING AUSTRALIA’S FUTURE 2009 CONFERENCE OVERVIEW

AUTUMN 2010 

CONTENTS 

The Australian Building Regulation Bulletin 

BULLETIN 

The Australian Building Regulation 

Bulletin (ABRB) 

The objective of the magazine is to provide 

industry with technically based information. 

The publisher reserves the right to alter or 

omit any article or advertisement submitted 

and requires indemnity from advertisers and 

contributors against damages or liabilities 

that may arise from material published. 

n Cover story 

16 Climate Change Adaptation Challenges For The Built Environment 

n Features 

EDITORIAL 

Publications Coordinator: 

Samantha Catanzariti 

Editorial Services: 

Max Winter, WinterComms 

ADVERTISING 

For advertising sales contact 

0402 489 103 or 

salesadmin@netspace.net.au 

ARTWORK 

Design: 

Artifishal Studios 

Typesetting and layout: 

Whalen Image Solutions 

CIRCULATION 

The ABRB has a national circulation 

amongst the building and construction 

industry reaching approximately 15,000 

subscribers and a readership 

of 45,000+. 

COPYRIGHT 

Material in the ABRB is protected under 

the Commonwealth Copyright Act 1968. 

No material may be reproduced in part 

or in whole without written consent 

from the Commonwealth and State 

and Territory Governments of Australia. 

Requests and inquiries concerning 

reproduction and rights should be 

addressed to: 

The General Manager 

Australian Building 

Codes Board 

GPO Box 9839 

Canberra ACT 2601 

A State Perspective 

14 Building a Better Queensland 

ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT 

20 Comparative Stringency of Elemental Glazing Provisions For 

BCA 2010 Volume Two 

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE 

22 Four Decades of Service to Product Evaluation in the U.S 

BAF 2009 OVERVIEW 

26 Building Australia’s Future (BAF) 2009 Conference Overview 

REGULATORY DEVELOPMENT 

30 Draft Standard for Private Bushfire Shelters 

INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY DEVELOPMENT 

32 LPG Powered Cars - New Regulations for Garages in Austria 

34 Fire Protection Issues for Multi-Storey Buildings in China 

36 Fire Engineering, the Building Codes and Sustainability 

PRODUCT INNOVATION 

38 Leading Products for the Built Environment 

n Regulars 

2 Chairman’s Address 

4 BCA and Industry News – including the latest on BCA 2010 

Disclaimer: The views in this 

magazine are not necessarily 

the views of the Australian 

Building Codes Board. 

44 Conference & Events Calendar 

Australian Building Regulation Bulletin 

• 1

CHAirMAN’S ADDrESS 

Mr graham huxley AM 

Welcome to the Autumn 2010 edition 

of the Australian Building Regulation 

Bulletin. 

On reflection, 2009 was a busy year 

highlighted by the development of 

enhanced energy efficiency measures 

for the Building Code of Australia (BCA) 

as agreed by Governments, a new 

national bushfire standard for residential 

buildings and on-going engagement 

about important life safety issues arising 

from the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal 

Commission’s work. 

The Building Ministers’ Forum met in 

November 2009 to consider several 

matters impacting on the building 

regulation reform agenda. This 

included consideration of the National 

Construction Code (NCC) which was 

subsequently referred to COAG. At its 

meeting on 7 December COAG agreed 

to integrate the Plumbing Code of 

Australia and the Building Code of 

Australia into a single document which 

will address areas of inconsistency and 

overlap between the two codes. This 

will enable the development of a more 

consolidated and integrated national 

construction code. 

Looking to the year ahead, we expect 

to have our hands full once again in 

2010. In addition to assisting with the 

development of the NCC, the ABCB 

will be responding further to the Royal 

Commission on Bushfires, including the 

development of a national standard for 

the design and construction of bushfire 

shelters for personal use. 

Government is considering its response 

to the House of Representatives 

Standing Committee on Legal and 

Constitutional Affairs report on the 

Draft Disability (Access to Premises 

– Buildings) Standards and the 

ABCB remains ready to respond to 

Government direction on this important 

issue. 

As foreshadowed earlier, BCA 2010 

contains increased energy efficiency 

stringency levels for all buildings, 

including 6 star requirements for 

houses. Some States and Territories may 

not be adopting these changes in BCA 

2010, so it would be best to check the 

status of these new measures in your 

jurisdiction with your local Building 

Control Administration (see page 31 in 

this Edition). 

With the new provisions for energy 

efficiency bushfires, swimming pool 

safety barriers and other amendments 

relating to life safety, the new look BCA 

2010 contains quite a few changes. I 

encourage you to attend our National 

BCA Seminar Series, commencing in 

March, where you will be informed of 

these changes. Further information 

on the Seminars can be found in this 

edition, or on our website at 

www.abcb.gov.au 

Graham Huxley AM 

Chairman 

2 • Australian Building Regulation Bulletin

THE CHALLENGE: 

To achieve total R3.2 to meet 

BCA Part J compliance 

 

 

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Creating an environmentally 

sustainable future

BCA & INDUSTRY NEWS 

BPIC MAINTAINING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE 


Last month, the Building Products 

Innovation Council (BPIC) farewelled 

chief executive, David Sharp, who has 

returned to the “land of the long white 

cloud” to rejoin BRANZ as Business 

Development Manager. 

David has been a very popular figure 

at ABCB conferences and Building 

Code Committee meetings for over 10 

years and impressed everyone with his 

technical knowledge and his “Yorkshire” 

sense of humour which was used 

to great effect when he MC’d many 

conference dinners. 

David played a most significant role in the 

future of the building industry through 

his management of the BPIC Industry 

Cooperative Innovation Program (ICIP), 

an Australian Government supported 

project that that will produce a Life Cycle 

Inventory (LCI) for building materials. 

This sound, transparent data system will 

improve the sustainability of the building 

and materials industry across Australia. 

David will continue to contribute to the 

project wearing his BRANZ hat. 

BPIC’s 10 major building material 

Maintaining BPIC’s direction; Ian Frame with David Sharp 

national associations have provided 

valuable support and participation in 

this project which will provide: 

• a level playing field methodology for 

use in the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) 

of building products and materials 

• an extensive database of LCI data for 

construction materials and products, 

all compiled in accordance with the 

methodology 

• a database of replacement lives for 

materials, products and assemblies 

used in Australian buildings 

• an LCA protocol that will describe 

how the LCI data should be used. e.g 

by LCA Tools and Ecolabels. 

The BPIC LCI database is a joint initiative 

by BPIC, BRANZ, the Australian Life Cycle 

Assessment Society (ALCAS) and the 

Department of Innovation, Industry, 

Science & Research. The project, due for 

completion in November 2010, is now 

at an exciting stage where the building 

product associations have agreed on a 

methodology and are now collecting 

LCI data. The project team has engaged 

with a wide group of stakeholders 

through a national series of Weighting 

Workshops held in 11 cities, designed 

to establish how Australians judge 

the relative importance (weighting) of 

environmental issues and risks. 

Ian Frame, who was Executive Director 

Building Product Associations contribute to the Life Cycle 

Inventory Database 

of the Australian Window Association 

for 20 years has taken over the CEO role 

at BPIC. Ian was secretary of BPIC for 

seven years, after playing a leading role 

in its establishment in 2002. Ian and the 

other chief executives of the building 

materials sector believed then, as they 

do today, that regulators, designers and 

the consumer will significantly benefit 

from BPIC’s key objectives: 

• A level playing field so that all 

products can be fairly and genuinely 

compared through performance 

• A nationally consistent regulatory 

framework which is critical, especially 

in maintaining housing affordability 

throughout Australia 

• Strengthening Australia’s building 

material sector through innovation 

and adherence to Australian 

Standards and the Building Code of 

Australia 

BPIC is working to better protect 

homeowners, builders, designers and 

building surveyors from non-compliant, 

and in many cases unsafe, products 

being used in Australian construction. 

Appreciating that knowledge and 

education are the best possible 

means to eliminate non-compliant 

products, BPIC and SAI Global are 

pursuing, through meetings with the 

ABCB, Housing Industry Association, 

Master Builders Association and the 

Property Council of Australia, the ability 

to provide Australian Standards and 

the Building Code on line at the most 

affordable rate possible. 

BPIC is optimistic that both state 

and federal governments will assist 

in helping reduce the very real and 

dangerous cost to homeowners of living 

in buildings that have been constructed 

with non-compliant materials. Ian 

Frame would welcome both support 

and information that could assist in 

achieving this goal. 

Email: IanFrame@bpic.asn.au 

About BPIC 

The Building Products Innovation 

Council (BPIC) is the national body 

representing Australia’s building 

product associations. BPIC’s 

membership directly employs more 

than 200,000 Australians with more 

than 470,000 employed indirectly. 

Their collective industries are 

worth more than $54b annually to 

the Australian economy. For more 

information, please go to: 

www.bpic.asn.au 


John V. McCarthy AO, to hold Presidency of CIB 

On 13 October 2009, in Brussels, 

Belgium, CRC for Construction Innovation 

Chair, John V. McCarthy AO, was voted 

by the international board of the CIB 

(International Council for Research and 

Innovation in Building and Construction) 

to take over the Presidency of the global 

group from May 2010 for three years. 

The vote is expected to be ratified by 

World Building Congress delegates in 

May 2010, and will be the first time an 

Australian has held this prestigious CIB 

Presidency. 

As many of you will know, John has 

a distinguished record of industry 

leadership in Australia, including as 

a member of the Built Environment 

Industry Innovation Council advising 

the Australian Minister for Innovation, 

Industry, Science and Research and as a 

former Board member of the Australian 

Building Codes Board. John is currently 

Chairing the interim Board for the 

incoming Sustainable Built Environment 

National Research Centre as the 

successor for the CRC for Construction 

Innovation, which he has chaired for the 

last eight years. John is also an Adjunct 

Professor at QUT in Brisbane. 

John’s energy and focus will deliver 

clear benefits for expansion of the CIB’s 

international research role and will 

coincidentally bring the 2013 World 

Building Congress to Australia … 

stay tuned! 

BCA + INDUSTRY iNDUSTRY NEWS 

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• 5

ific metal screens in buildings with a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) up to and including BAL 40. 

factured locally as an Insulating Glass Unit (IGU), incorporating specially processed, high 


ty Viridian float glass products, the new bushfire resistant Viridian PyroGuard 40 TM in conjunction 

a suitably tested framing profile offers a range of valuable benefits. These include reduced noise, 

um thermal performance, (improved comfort and savings on heating and cooling costs all year 

d) and outstanding 

viriDiAN Media Release LAUNCH 

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NEW 

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rESiSTANT 

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ding BAL TESTED 40; it’s TO extraordinary! THE ABSOLUTE 

4 November 2009 

S 

Australian glass manufacturer, Viridian, 

has designed a bushfire resistant 

glass specifically for use in bushfire 

prone areas. Used in conjunction with 

a specially tested bushfire resistant 

window system, Viridian PyroGuard 

40 can help protect human lives and 

property by providing a barrier against 

radiant heat and ember attack. 

The special ultra-thin transparent 

coating within Viridian PyroGuard 40 

minimises the transfer of radiant heat 

from the bushfire front through the 

glass and into the home; even when 

subject to radiation levels of 40kW/ 

m2, less than 3% of the radiant heat is 

transferred through a window glazed 

with PyroGuard 40. This not only 

protects combustible materials such 

as curtains and furnishings within the 

home, but helps to provide significantly 

increased protection for occupants. 

The high radiation levels of a bushfire 

front normally only last for a short 

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as the front moves away. PyroGuard 40 

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6 • Australian Building Regulation Bulletin 

system, PyroGuard 40 offers effective 

protection from the effects of ember 

attack and radiant heat created that 

would otherwise threaten life and 

property well after the fire front has 

passed. 

Viridian Launch New Bushfire Resistant IGU - 

Tested to the Absolute 

ore information on Viridian PyroGuard 40, high resolution 

es or to arrange an interview with Paul Cocker - Marketing and 

ess Development Manager, Viridian, please contact Jill Johnson 

exandra Gregory on 03 9510 5466. 

Victorian window fabricator Miglas, 

has just launched their new bushfire 

resistant window system, the Miglas 

Fireguard 40. Glazed with Viridian 

PyroGuard 40, it has passed 

the rigorous testing procedures 

documented in AS 1530.8.1.2007. As 

provided for in AS3959 ‘Building in 

Bushfire Prone Areas’, installation of this 

window system removes the need for 

unsightly bushfire resistant shutters or 

specific metal screens in buildings with 

a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) up to and 

including BAL 40. 

Australian glass manufacturer, Viridian, has designed 

a bushfire resistant glass specifically for use in 

ease 

bushfire prone areas. Used in conjunction with a 

specially tested bushfire resistant window systems, 

er 2009 Viridian PyroGuard 40 can help protect human 

lives and property by providing a barrier against 

radiant heat and ember attack. 

Manufactured locally as an Insulating 

Glass Unit (IGU), incorporating specially 

processed, high quality Viridian float 

glass products, the new bushfire 

resistant Viridian PyroGuard 40 in 

conjunction with a suitably tested 

framing profile offers a range of valuable 

benefits. These include reduced noise, 

optimum thermal performance, 

(improved comfort and savings on 

heating and cooling costs all year round) 

and outstanding protection from the 

bushfire flame front for sites assessed 

at up to and including BAL 40; it’s 

extraordinary! 

an Launch The special ultra-thin New transparent Bushfire coating within Resistant IGU - 

Viridian PyroGuard 40 minimises the transfer of 

radiant heat from the bushfire front through the glass 

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levels of 40kW/m2, less than 3% of the radiant heat 

is transferred through a window glazed with 

glass manufacturer, PyroGuard 40. Viridian, This not has only designed protects combustible 

resistant materials glass specifically such as curtains for use and in furnishings within the 

rone areas. home, 

When glazed Used but 

as part in helps conjunction to provide 

of a specially with significantly a increased 

ested bushfire 

tested protection bushfire 

resistant for occupants. 

window systems, 

roGuard 40 can help protect human 

roperty by providing a barrier against 

at and ember attack. 

al ultra-thin transparent coating within 

roGuard 40 minimises the transfer of 

at from the bushfire front through the glass 

e home; even when subject to radiation 

0kW/m2, less than 3% of the radiant heat 

red through a window glazed with 

40. This not only protects combustible 

such as curtains and furnishings within the 

helps to provide significantly increased 

for occupants. 

Paul Cocker Cocker - Marketing - Marketing and Business and 

Development 

Business Development 

Manager, Viridian 

Manager, Viridian 

The high radiation levels of a bushfire front normally only las 

a short period, rising to a peak as the front nears the building 

reducing at a similar rate as the front moves away. PyroGua 

40 provides further protection after the front passes. 

Research has demonstrated that many homes ignite well aft 

the fire front has gone, with the integrity of the window 

maintained; human life and property are further protected. 

When glazed as part of a specially tested bushfire resistant 

window system, PyroGuard 40 offers effective protection f 

the effects of ember attack and radiant heat created that wou 

otherwise threaten life and property well after the fire front ha 

passed. 

The high radiation levels of a bushfire front normally only last for

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New Safety Standards at OneSteel Reinforcing 

OneSteel Reinforcing has taken 

proactive steps to ensure the safe 

handling and loading of its Trench Mesh 

steel reinforcing onto transport trucks. 

Following a comprehensive evaluation, 

OneSteel Reinforcing has renewed 

Trench Mesh handling procedures for 

OneSteel Reinforcing employees and 

contract truck drivers. 

The new guidelines implemented 

by OneSteel Reinforcing, are seeing 

significant improvements in safe 

handling practices being achieved 

across OneSteel Reinforcing’s 

operations. 

The Australian Standards on lifting 

devices, (AS 3775 Chains and Slings and 

AS 3776 Hooks and Rings) recommend 

the device must be able to provide 

positive retention of the load in order 

to prevent the load separating from the 

hook. 

While the use of a safety clip or latch 

provides a positive retention device, 

standard hooks do not fit well into 

Trench Mesh, making it difficult to use a 

clip or latch. 

“Prior to the implementation of this 

initiative there was a possibility of the 

load, if not properly secured, moving 

when being 

loaded.” Said 

Wayne Miller, 

OneSteel 

Reinforcing 

Safety Advisor. 

OneSteel 

Reinforcing has 

identified that 

wool or cotton 

bale hooks, also known as bailing hooks, 

are the most suitable for use with its 

Trench Mesh steel reinforcing. 

While bale hooks are not new to the 

industry, their use has predominantly 

been for lifting bales of cotton or wool. 

They are long shank hooks that pull into 

the mesh upon lifting, thereby causing 

greater retention. 

Bailing hooks do not lift from the 

bottom cross wires but are placed five 

cross wires in from each end, and part 

way down a mesh pack of 25-30 sheets. 

This evenly disperses the load placed on 

the packing straps. 

As a consequence, the bale hook design 

does not require the use of a position 

retention device to stop the Trench 

Mesh load detaching from the hook as 

it’s being loaded onto a truck. 

Bale hooks are not suitable for other 

reinforcing mesh products with larger 

apertures. For these reinforcing mesh 

products, OneSteel Reinforcing employ 

the use of a H-frame with hooks and 

pins to provide a secure lifting solution. 

“We have been encouraging our 

employees to recognise that the most 

important aspect of loading and 

handling all our reinforcing products is 

their safety,” Wayne said. 

“We believe that working safely and 

being aware of your surroundings and 

instilling the importance of safe work 

procedures must be the natural and 

instinctive way we all go about doing 

our daily tasks. 

“There are a number of positives to 

come from this review, most notably 

that procedures have been put in place 

to provide our workers and contractors 

with a safer work environment, which is 

imperative.” 

“The benefits of good safety are 

undeniable, good safety is good 

business. The benefits of a well 

maintained and safe workplace and 

equipment are not only obvious but 

vital to ensure the long-term future of 

OneSteel Reinforcing maintaining our 

reputation of having safe company work 

practices.” 

One of the main focuses of the initiative 

was to emphasise to all OneSteel 

Reinforcing employees the importance 

of daily safe product handling, to 

prevent complacency. 

Wayne said, “It’s our company objective 

to ensure everyone 

goes home safe and 

well at the end of 

the day.” 

Since the review 

there has been a 

dramatic increase 

in the awareness 

of hazard risks. 

It has also been 

useful in identifying 

areas where 

improvement is 

required to enhance 

the company’s 

safety culture and 

a concerted effort is being made to 

continue safety awareness. 

OneSteel Reinforcing has committed to 

the continual improvement of workplace 

safety 

and have 

published a 

Best Practice 

Guide for 

lifting Trench 

Mesh. 

The guide 

recommends 

and 

demonstrates the use of shanked Bailing 

Hooks and is freely available to all 

industry participants, customers, and 

users of OneSteel Reinforcing Trench 

Mesh and steel reinforcing products. 

Further details on lifting Trench Mesh 

safely, is available from Wayne Miller, 

Safety Advisor OneSteel Reinforcing. 

Wayne can be contacted via the 

reinforcing website, details below. 

OneSteel Reinforcing is a leading supplier 

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with a product range that includes 

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• 9


Report on Development of BCA 2010 

Development Process 

The development process for the 2010 

edition of the BCA (BCA 2010) was 

consistent with previous practices, the 

principles expressed in the current 

Inter Government Agreement and 

good regulatory practice. The process 

included the following elements: 

• An individual or organisation 

proposing a change to the BCA was 

required to justify the change in 

accordance with COAG regulatory 

principles through the ABCB’s 

Proposal for Change (PFC) process. 

This included documenting all 

impacts (costs and benefits), 

consultation undertaken and 

demonstration of market failure. 

• Following the April meeting of COAG, 

the ABCB office was directed to 

develop enhanced energy efficiency 

provisions in BCA 2010. 

• Extensive consultation with 

stakeholders was undertaken, with 

a particular focus on the energy 

efficiency provisions and affected 

industries. This included the 

availability of drafts of BCA 2010 

on the ABCB website for 6 weeks 

during June and July and, in respect 

of the energy efficiency changes, 

wide consultation on the draft 

provisions and the RISs including two 

webcasts to thousands of building 

practitioners. 

• The Building Codes Committee (BCC) 

was provided with BCA 2010 drafts 

and all public comments received 

plus an analysis of those comments 

and recommended action. BCC met 

on 19–20 October to consider the 

comments and further develop the 

drafts. 

Matters included in BCA 2010 

Referenced documents 

BCA 2010 references a number of 

amendments and new editions of 

Standards and other documents. 

Loading Standards 

The agreed transition period for 1170.4 

has now ended and all references to the 

older 1993 edition of AS 1170 Part 4 have 

been deleted. As a consequence, several 

editorial changes have been necessary. 

The proposed removal of AS 1170.4 1993 

was advised in BCA 2009. 

Swimming pool Standards 

AS 1926-2007 Amendment 1 replaces 

AS 1926-1993. Both Part 1 (dealing 

with safety barriers for swimming 

pools) and Part 2 (dealing with the 

location of safety barriers for swimming 

pools) have been updated. The new 

standard provides greater clarity on the 

arrangement of acceptable construction 

for pool fences, including diagrams. 

In addition to referencing the 2007 

version of AS 1926, new provisions have 

been included in the BCA restricting 

the use of child-resistant doorsets in an 

outdoor swimming pool safety barrier 

and prescribing the direction of swing of 

side hung doors in an indoor swimming 

pool safety barrier. 

Bushfire Standard 

The 2009 edition (including Amendment 

1) of AS 3959 “Construction of buildings 

in bushfire-prone areas” is referenced 

in BCA 2010. As part of the referencing 

of the new edition, the provisions have 

been extended to apply to Class 10a 

buildings and decks associated with a 

Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 buildings. 

Definitions 

Due to the enhanced energy efficiency 

provisions, a number of defined terms 

have been added, modified or removed. 

As a result of changes to the natural 

lighting provisions, the word roof light is 

now a defined term for that purpose. 

Natural lighting 

The requirements for roof lights have 

been amended to reduce the aggregate 

light transmitting area for roof lights 

providing natural lighting to not less 

than 3% of the floor area of the space 

served. This is because roof lights are 

more efficient at transmitting light 

when compared to windows. The 

consequence of this is the potential to 

reduce costs by using a smaller roof light 

which, in turn, assists in compliance with 

the energy efficiency provisions through 

a reduction in heat gains or losses 

through the roof light. 

Other matters 

A number of other minor changes 

have been made to clarify intent where 

confusion existed. 

Class 2 to 9 Buildings 

(Volume One) 

Nickel Sulphide glass failure 

As a consequence of glass failures 

related to nickel sulphide, the BCA now 

references ASTM C1279 “Standard 

Test Method for Non-Destructive 

Photoelastic Measurement of Edge and 

Surface Stresses in Annealed, Heat- 

Strengthened and Fully Tempered Flat 

Glass” and EN 14179 Part 2 “Evaluation 

of conformity/Product standard”. It has 

been necessary to use international 

standards as the proposed amendment 

to AS 1288 to address these issues will 

not be ready in time for BCA 2010. There 

will be a transition period to allow 

industry to adjust. 

Power operated doors 

A new provision clarifies the 

requirement for certain power operated 

doors to be opened manually in the 

case of power failure. This provision now 

applies to power operated doors in a 

path of travel to an exit. 

Water flow for fire hose reels 

BCA 2010 now references Amendment 1 

to AS 2441. As a result, the requirements 

for water supply for a fire hose reel have 

been relocated from the standard into 

the BCA. 

Smoke hazard management in large 

isolated buildings 

The provisions in C2.3 dealing with 

smoke hazard management have been 

relocated into Table E2.2a. 

Sanitary facilities 

The number of required sanitary 

facilities has been adjusted for certain 

Class 9b buildings, including schools, 

theatres and cinemas with multiple 

auditoria, sports venues or the like. For 

schools, there is a reduction in pans, 

urinals and washbasins for students, 

which has assisted in the removal of a 

State variation and achieved nationally 


consistent requirements. For theatres 

and cinemas with multiple auditoria and 

sports venues, the number of female 

facilities has been increased. 

Energy efficiency 

The energy efficiency provisions have 

been enhanced in 2010 as a result of a 

COAG directive. 

The energy efficiency provisions include 

the following: 

• Sole-occupancy units for Class 2 

buildings and Class 4 parts of 

buildings must achieve an average 

of 6 stars. This must be determined 

through software programs. 

• Due to the need to reduce 

greenhouse gas emissions, the 

Performance Requirement has been 

revised and new Deemed-to-Satisfy 

Provisions have been added to 

require a building’s services to use 

energy from a renewable source or 

a source with low greenhouse gas 

intensity. 

• The Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions 

for Class 2 to 9 buildings (other than 

sole-occupancy units in Class 2 

buildings and Class 4 parts of 

buildings) have been enhanced in 

line with the COAG direction. 

• The maintenance provisions have 

been amended to align with the 

changes to the energy efficiency 

provisions. 

Housing Provisions 

(Volume Two) 

Corrosion protection 

A revised table for acceptable corrosion 

protection for sheet roofing has been 

included. The amendment aligns with 

the changes made to the corrosion 

protection of built-in structural steel 

members which was included in 

BCA 2009. This was done to increase 

consistency for how corrosion 

protection is dealt with in the BCA and 

to better reflect currently available 

products and industry practice. 

Energy efficiency 

The energy efficiency provisions have 

been enhanced in 2010. 

The energy efficiency provisions include: 

• A requirement to achieve a 6 

star rating using software or an 

equivalent using an elemental 

approach. 

• In tropical areas such as climate 

zones 1 and 2, the star rating may 

be reduced if outdoor living zones 

which meet specific requirements are 

included as part of the building. 

• Due to the need to reduce 

greenhouse gas emissions, the 

Performance Requirement has been 

revised and Deemed-to-Satisfy 

Provisions have been added to 

require a building’s services to use 

energy from a renewable source or 

from a source with low greenhouse 

gas intensity. 

• In the appropriate locations, 

explanatory information has been 

inserted stating that designers 

of ceilings need to consider the 

additional loadings due to the 

increased ceiling insulation required 

by the enhanced energy efficiency 

provisions. 

Other matters 

A number of other minor changes have 

been made to correct typographical 

errors and clarify intent where confusion 

existed. 

Guide to the BCA 

A number of changes have been made 

to the Guide to the BCA to reflect the 

above changes to Volume One. 

There is also a new look to BCA 2010, 

with State and Territory variations 

and additions to Volume One now 

consolidated into a separate publication. 

Refer to the following page for more 

information. 

BCA + iNDUSTRY NEWS 


• 11

BCA 2010 NOW AVAILABLE... 

Energy efficiency provisions • Buildings in Bushfire Prone Areas 

Swimming Pool Safety Barriers • Lighting • Glazing • AND MORE 

You will also recieve the State and Territory Appendices Booklet and Online Access to the 

2010 Energy Efficiency Lighting & Glazing Calculators and all ABCB Handbooks. 

It’s here… BCA 2010 complete with the latest updates and information for building compliance. The first change you will notice 

is what appears to be a fourth volume. The Volume One Appendices are now bound as a separate document forming part of the 

complete BCA package of Volume One, Volume Two, Variations & Additions, BCA Online and E-Guide to the BCA. 

This year is particularly important with changes to, and information on, new national energy efficiency provisions; buildings in 

bushfire prone areas; swimming pool safety barriers, lighting, glazing and more. 

As part of your subscription service, you will also have access to a 1300 technical information line. If you have an enquiry on the 

BCA, call the Customer Service team where your call can be directed to the most appropriate technical area within the ABCB. If your 

enquiry requires more specific building related information, we can connect you through to the relevant State or Territory building 

control administration, or Government Department. Throughout the year, we will keep you up-to-date via the ABR Online and 

ABRB magazines; email alerts; and ABCB web-casts. 

New subscribers can contact the BCA Customer Service team to discuss the purchase options that are available for individuals, 

students, educational institutions, and organisations. 

Your 2010 Subscription Inclusions and Online Access… 

• ABRB Hard Copy Magazine • ABR Online • All Historical BCA’s • E-Guide to the BCA • Energy Efficiency Glazing Calculator 

• Energy Efficiency Lighting Calculator • Durability in Buildings Handbook • Sound Insulation Handbook • Landslide Handbook 

• Digital Building Telecommunications Access Handbook • … and soon to be released: Energy Efficiency for Electricians and Plumbers; 

and Energy Efficiency in Class 2-9 Buildings • Digital TV Antenna Systems Handbook • Digital TV Antenna Systems for Homes 

Handbook • 

BCA Customer Service on 1300 134 631 

Email: bca@abcb.gov.au Fax: 02 6290 8831 www.abcb.gov.au 


Do your windows & doors 

comply to the BCA? 

ENERGY EFFICIENCY BCA + IN iNDUSTRY THE BUILT NEWS ENVIRONMENT 

? 

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Members verify their window's design performance using a NATA accredited 

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Members performance label their windows to the required 'wind pressure' and 

'water penetration' requirements of AS2047 

Members provide windows that will make you home more comfortable, reduce 

energy costs and conforms to the solution paths for energy efficiency within the 

Building Code of Australia 

It is your responsibility to ensure your window manufacturer has compliance to AS2047. 

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performance claims of products. 

Choose AWA & WERS Members 

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Australian Building Regulation www.wers.net 

Bulletin • 13

A STATE PERSPECTIVE 

Building a better 

Queensland 

Written by Building Codes Queensland 

Building Codes Queensland is the 

division within the Department of 

Infrastructure and Planning responsible 

for Queensland’s building and plumbing 

policy, legislation and standards. 

The past 12 months have seen a raft of 

major reforms aimed at improving the 

built environment for Queenslanders. 

From a major overhaul of Queensland’s 

pool safety laws to a range of Australianfirst 

sustainability measures and reduced 

red tape for plumbers, it has been a year 

of firsts for Queensland. Amongst the 

changes, Queensland will have its first 

state-wide register of pools to support 

new mandatory point of sale and lease 

pool safety inspections. Homeowners 

will complete a sustainability declaration 

when marketing their property for sale. 

Anti-sustainable restrictions such as 

covenants that set minimum floor areas 

for houses will be banned and licensed 

plumbers will be able to self-certify 

installation of solar and heat pump hot 

water systems. 

Building Codes Queensland has been 

a hive of activity over the last year and, 

with plenty of exciting new projects on 

the horizon, this enthusiasm and output 

is only expected to continue. Below is 

a snapshot from our Directors of some 

of the most current policy initiatives. 

More information is available from our 

website at www.dip.qld.gov.au 

Written by Glen Brumby, Executive 

Director, Building Codes Queensland. 

Swimming 

Pool Safety 

In 2008–09, eight children drowned 

in Queensland pools. An estimated 

50 young children are presented to 

emergency departments each year 

due to immersion injuries, some of 

whom suffer permanent brain damage. 

Defective fences have been a recurring 

significant factor in coronial findings 

on fatal immersion accidents of young 

children in swimming pools. 

In December 2008, the Premier 

of Queensland announced the 

most comprehensive review of 

Queensland’s pool safety laws in 

nearly 20 years. An expert committee 

was subsequently formed and made 

23 recommendations for improving 

pool safety in Queensland. Following 

extensive public consultation, the 

Queensland Government approved the 

implementation of a two staged pool 

safety improvement strategy. 

Stage one was implemented on 1 

December 2009 and applies to new 

pools. It includes adoption of the latest 

pool fencing and CPR signage standards, 

mandatory follow-up inspections, 

provisions to allow temporary pool 

fencing and a major increase in funding 

of the government’s pool safety 

campaign. 

Stage two is proposed to commence on 

1 December 2010 and will apply mostly 

to existing pools. Measures include: 

• adoption of the latest pool 

fencing standards for all existing 

and new pools (indoor and outdoor) 

associated with Class 1, 2, 3 and 4 

buildings and caravan parks 

• phasing out child resistant doors 

for existing pools 

• mandatory inspections at point of 

sale and lease of properties with a 

pool 

• a new license class for swimming 

pool safety inspectors 

• a requirement for portable pools 

300mm or deeper to be fenced 

• a swimming pool register 

• narrowing the ability for local 

governments to vary or add to pool 

safety laws and strengthening local 

government powers of entry. 

Written by Lance Glare, A/Director, 

Building Legislation and Standards 

Branch 


A STATE PERSPECTIVE 

Sustainability 

declarations 

There is growing concern about the 

potential impacts of climate change and 

the need to improve existing housing 

stock. Encouraging prospective buyers 

to make informed choices about the 

sustainability performance of residential 

buildings is becoming increasingly 

important. Properties with a greater 

number of sustainability features 

potentially have lower energy costs and 

use less water. They can also be more 

comfortable to live in and generate 

fewer greenhouse gas emissions. 

Homes with access features may be 

more liveable for occupants during their 

various life stages and the inclusion of 

safety features can reduce potential risks 

around the home. 

From 1 January 2010, a sustainability 

declaration must be completed when a 

house, townhouse or unit is marketed 

or offered for sale. This declaration will 

inform buyers about the sustainability 

features of a property and increase 

community awareness of the value of 

such features. The declaration identifies 

the dwelling’s environmental and 

social sustainability features in four 

key areas—energy, water, access and 

safety. It also indicates the possible 

ongoing financial and environmental 

benefits that could be achieved with 

specific features. It is anticipated that 

the declaration will help promote the 

sustainability of a home and become a 

key marketing tool for real estate agents 

and private sellers. 

To assist sellers, including those with 

limited pre-existing knowledge of 

sustainability features, the Department 

of Infrastructure and Planning has 

released a reference guide and fact 

sheet to help the public in filling in the 

sustainability declaration. 

The sustainability declaration, reference 

guide and fact sheet is available on the 

department’s website 

www.dip.qld.gov.au 

Written by Natalie Wilde, A/Director, 

Reform and Legislative Services Branch 

Solar and Heat Pump 

Hot Water Systems 

From 1 January 2010, existing houses 

and townhouses (Class 1 buildings) 

located in a natural gas reticulated 

area must install an energy efficient 

hot water system (i.e. gas, solar or 

heat pump) when the existing electric 

resistance system needs replacing. 

Householders will not need to replace 

existing electric resistance hot water 

systems that are in good working order. 

This initiative, part of Queensland’s 

Climate Change Strategy, is the first of 

its kind in Australia and follows action 

by the Queensland Government to ban 

the installation of electric resistance 

hot water systems in all new houses 

and townhouses (Class 

1 buildings only), which 

came into effect on 

1 March 2006. 

Around 27 per cent of 

electricity used in the 

average Queensland 

household is for heating 

water—making hot water 

Image supplied courtesy of the Queensland Government 

systems one of the highest single energy 

users and greenhouse gas contributors 

in the home. 

At this stage, owners of homes located 

outside these areas will still be able 

to replace their existing hot water 

system with another electric system or 

voluntarily upgrade to a greenhouse 

efficient system. To ensure energy 

efficient hot water systems are installed 

properly, and to streamline the 

approval process, a new endorsement 

on a plumber’s license or provisional 

plumber’s licence has been created. The 

legislation has also been amended to 

allow a plumber or provisional plumbers 

with the endorsement to self certify the 

work. 

This means that plumbers and 

provisional plumbers can self certify 

their work and simply advise the 

local government that the work was 

completed. The local government may 

audit work for compliance. 

Given that installers will have 

undertaken training to gain an 

endorsement, there can be a greater 

level of confidence that installations are 

being undertaken correctly. 

Written by Michael McGuinness, 

A/Director, Plumbing Legislation and 

Standards Branch 


• 15

COVER STORY 

Climate Change Adaptation 

Challenges for the Built 

Environment 

Written by the Department of Climate Change 

The impacts of unavoidable 

climate change on the built 

environment are likely to be 

substantial. Australia’s coastal 

and peri-urban settlements will 

be particularly vulnerable. Sealevel 

rise and more extreme 

weather events are among 

projected changes that will 

have both direct and indirect 

consequences for Australia’s 

communities and the buildings 

and service infrastructure on 

which they rely. Developing 

effective adaptation responses 

will be critical in reducing the 

economic and social costs of 

climate change. 

The Australian Government is leading 

efforts to help Australia better 

understand and prepare for the risks 

that climate change presents for 

settlements and infrastructure. 

Climate change poses significant threats 

to Australia’s built environment and 

is likely to result in increased damage 

and higher maintenance costs. The 

built environment includes houses, 

offices, factories, community and 

emergency service buildings, energy, 

telecommunications, transport and 

water infrastructure and, importantly, 

the services they provide. 

Stress to the built environment will 

come from the transition to new 

climate conditions as well as from the 

new conditions themselves. These 

Photo courtesy of the Department of Climate Change 

stresses will come from creeping 

change—higher average ambient air 

and sea surface temperatures, sea-level 

rise, coastal erosion, ocean acidification 

and altered wave patterns—and from 

extreme events—bushfires, storm 

surge and flood inundation, heatwaves, 

storms and cyclones. 

By 2030, it is expected that structural 

design criteria for buildings and 

infrastructure subject to extreme 

weather events are very likely to be 

exceeded more frequently 1 . Small 

changes in climate can trigger rapid 

and complex effects, particularly when 

design thresholds are exceeded. For 

example, research undertaken on behalf 

of the Insurance Council of Australia 

shows that a 25 per cent increase in peak 

wind gust speed can result in a 650 per 

cent increase in building damage. A 

25 per cent increase in intensity of a 

30 minute rainfall event can see a 100 

year flooding return period reduced to 

17 years. Figure 1 shows the effect of 

an increase in average temperature on 

extreme temperatures. 

Coastal settlements and infrastructure 

will be especially vulnerable to 

combined effects of climate change 

including sea level rise, increased air 

and sea surface temperature, increased 

storm intensity and frequency, ocean 

acidification, and changes to rainfall 

and run-off 2 . Of the 711,000 existing 

residential properties close to the water, 

Simulated inundation from a sea-level rise of 

1.1 metres and a 1-in-100 year storm tide using 

medium resolution evaluation data É CNES 2009 

/ imagery supplied courtesy of SPOT Imaging 

Services and Geospatial Intelligence PTY LTD. 

(Department of Climate Change, Climate Change 

Risks to Australia’s Coasts, 2009.) 


Photo courtesy of the Department of Climate Change and Arthur Mostead 

between 157,000–247,600 properties 

are identified as potentially exposed 

to inundation with a sea-level rise 

scenario of 1.1 metres; and nearly 

39,000 properties are located within 110 

metres of ‘soft’ shorelines, at risk from 

accelerated erosion due to sea-level 

rise, storm surge and changing climate 

conditions 3 . 

In addition to describing threats to 

coastal areas from climate impacts, the 

recently released report, Climate Change 

Risks to Australia’s Coasts, outlines the 

role of adaptation as part of a balanced 

and staged response to manage 

key risks. The assessment has been 

underpinned by a large investment in 

the development of a detailed coastal 

geomorphology map and a medium 

resolution digital elevation model 

for the entire coastline of Australia. 

The report, together with videos and 

questions and answers is available on 

the Department’s website at 

www.climatechange.gov.au 

A national coastal forum is planned for 

February 2010. It will bring together 

experts, government, industry and 

other interested parties to discuss the 

challenges faced by our coastal cities 

and towns and to begin to map a way 

forward to address current and future 

climate challenges. 

Meeting the 

challenge of 

climate change 

adaptation 

Most of Australia’s 2025 

built environment is 

already in place. To 

cope with the effects of 

a changing climate, it 

will become increasingly 

important to identify 

cost effective strategies 

for modifying or 

retrofitting buildings and 

infrastructure to maintain 

their integrity and the 

reliability of the services 

they provide. 

Further risk analyses 

need to be undertaken 

to better understand 

the unavoidable impacts 

of climate change on 

buildings, and infrastructure providing 

essential services. This information will 

help inform revision of building codes 

and design standards for new buildings, 

but it must also consider measures 

for retrofitting existing structures for 

future climate change and identify cost 

effective ways of adapting. 

More information is needed about 

the implications of climate change 

for materials and structures to inform 

standards development and revision. 

Practitioners need access to up-todate 

research and science to underpin 

decisions and decision support tools. 

There is also a need for better networks, 

including means of sharing practical 

experience about adapting to climate 

change. 

In recognising these adaptation 

and other challenges, the Australian 

Government is implementing a 

climate change adaption agenda that 

will provide leadership for actions 

of national priority, including the 

development of information and tools 

necessary to support investment 

decisions. 

COVER STORY 

Figure 1- Effect of an increase in average temperature on extreme 

temperatures 


• 17

COVER STORY 

Damage to houses in Innisfail, Queensland caused by Tropical Cyclone Larry. 

Photo credit: Peter Otto, Bureau of Meteorology 

Research, tools 

and resources 

The Australian Government is 

supporting a broad range of climate 

change science research activities 

through our $31 million Australian 

Climate Change Science Program. The 

research is helping 

us to better 

understand global 

and regional climate 

change and its 

potential impact on 

Australia’s natural 

and managed 

systems. 

The Government 

has adopted a 

new Australian 

Climate Change 

Science Framework 

to set climate 

change research 

priorities over the 

next decade and 

identify the people 

and infrastructure Australia needs to 

meet our future science requirements. 

A further $387 million is being invested 

to enhance our research in marine and 

climate science through the Marine 

and Climate Super Science Initiative, by 

funding high performance computing, 

new observing systems, and replacing 

key facilities. 

The Australian Government’s $126 

million Climate Change Adaptation 

Program is helping Australians to better 

understand and manage risks linked 

to the carbon pollution already in our 

atmosphere and to take advantage of 

potential opportunities. 

A National Climate Change Adaptation 

Research Facility and associated 

research networks are generating the 

information Australians need to manage 

climate change risks in critical areas such 

as water resources, settlements and 

infrastructure, emergency management 

and health. 

Major risk assessments are being 

prepared in vulnerable areas such as 

biodiversity, infrastructure and human 

settlements. These assessments 

include the recently completed Climate 

Change Risks to Australia’s Coasts, which 

assessed the risks to Australia’s coastal 

landscape to see how rises in the sea 

Photo courtesy of the Department of Climate Change and Glen Hooper 


level and storm surges will affect coastal 

communities. 

The Australian Government recognises 

that local government will be at the 

forefront of managing climate change 

impacts on communities and essential 

services. The Local Adaptation Pathways 

Program is assisting more than 90 local 

councils to identify key risks and to 

develop strategic adaptation plans to 

respond to those risks. 

Improving the resilience of our built 

environment to climate change impacts 

will be increasingly important to the 

resilience of our communities and the 

protection of our vulnerable citizens. 

The Government is providing funding 

for activities to support this objective. 

These include: 

• Revision of the Australian Rainfall 

and Runoff Handbook, which will 

provide an important source of 

technical information for use in 

designing infrastructure to withstand 

the impacts of extreme rainfall, 

flooding and storm surge; 

• Research to better understand 

concrete degradation under various 

greenhouse gas emissions scenarios 

and to identify cost-effective 

strategies to maximise effective life of 

reinforced concrete stuctures above 

and below ground and in marine 

environments; 

• Cost-benefit analyses of adaptation 

responses to various climate 

impacts on infrastructure in selected 

locations; and 

• Financial assistance for the 

development of the ICLEI Local 

Government Adaptation Tool Kit, which 

is being used to support councils’ 

decision-making processes and 

strengthen the capacity of staff to 

identify risks and opportunities that 

arise from climate change. 

The development of robust partnerships 

with research agencies—including 

CSIRO and Geoscience Australia—other 

levels of government, business and 

community interests are fundamental 

to ensuring that current and future work 

addresses priority needs for building 

resilience in the built environment. 

The decisions made today will have 

lasting consequences for future 

generations. By considering the 

future climate when making these 

decisions Australia will be in a better 

position to cope with the unavoidable 

impacts of climate changes. 

Further information 

Department of Climate Change – 

www.climatechange.gov.au 

National Climate Change Adaptation 

Research Facility – www.nccarf.edu.au 

CSIRO – www.csiro.au/org/ 

climateadaptationflagship.html 

Department of Innovation, Marine and 

Climate Super Science Initiative – 

www.innovation.gov.au 

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 

Change –www.ipcc.ch 

ICLEI Local Government Adaptation Tool 

Kit – www.iclei.org 

Engineers Australia, Australian Rainfall 

and Runoff Handbook – 

www.engineersaustralia.org.au 

References 

1 

Hennessy, K., Fitzharris, B., Bates, B. C., Harvey, 

N., Howden, S. M., Hughes, L., Salinger, J. and 

Warrick, R. 2007. Australia and New Zealand. 

In: Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation 

and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working 

Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report 

of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 

Change. (Ed. by Parry M. L., Canziani O.F., 

Palutikof J. P., van der Linden P. J. and Hanson 

C. E.). pp 507-540. Cambridge University Press, 

Cambridge, UK. 

2 

Thom, B., Cane, J., Cox, R., Farrell, C., Hayes, P., 

Kay, R., Kearns, A., Low Choy, D., McAneney, 

J., McDonald, J., Nolan, M., Norman, B., Nott, 

J., Smith, T. 2009. National Climate Change 

Adaptation Research Plan: Settlements and 

Infrastructure (Consultation Draft), National 

Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility. 

3 

Department of Climate Change, 2009. Climate 

Change Risks to Australia’s Coasts: A first pass 

national assessment, p.71. 

BUILD WITH 

CONFIDENCE 

Insisting on BRANZ Appraised 

building products or systems 

will give you the confidence 

of knowing they will perform 

as specified. 

When products or systems 

are BRANZ Appraised you 

can be sure they have 

been comprehensively and 

independently assessed to 

comply with the Building Code 

of Australia (BCA) so you can 

build with confidence. 

Look for our mark 

Visit our website for a list of 

valid BRANZ Appraisals – 

www.branz.com.au 

For all queries call 

1800 080 063 or 

appraisals@branz.com.au 

COVER STORY 

BRZ5800 


• 19

BCA ENERGY & INDUSTRY EFFICIENCY NEWS IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT 

Comparative Stringency 

of Elemental Glazing 

Provisions For BCA 2010 

Volume Two 

Written by Bruce Lightfoot, Consultant, Australian Building Codes Board 

Key points: 

1. Glazing Provisions for BCA 

2010 use a somewhat different 

approach than BCA 2009, which 

prevents a direct comparison 

of stringencies in simple terms 

of percentage area change. 

However, examining the types 

of glazing needed at typical 

glazing ratios (ie the proportion 

of glazing to floor area) is a 

practical means of comparing 

outcomes. 

2. The BCA 2010 provisions allow 

for minimal changes of glazing 

systems although glazing ratios 

may be constrained in some 

cases. 

3. Glazing ratios under the BCA 

2010 provisions, nevertheless, 

remain comfortably within 

the typical range (20-30%) 

identified by an ABCB Office 

survey in 2002 and found in 

practice. 

1. Elemental glazing 

method for 2010 

Provisions for BCA 2010 extend the BCA 

2009 calculation method to produce 

outcomes closer to those achieved by 

simulation. In particular, the provisions 

assess wintertime solar access in detail 

to reward good orientation and glazing 

selection. 

Stringency has been increased by 

changes to the glazing constants 

(in Table 3.12.2.1) and flexibility has 

been improved by adding winter 

exposure factors for the calculation of 

conductance requirements in climate 

zones 2-8 (in Table 3.12.2.2a). The new 

exposure factor is applied in a revised 

conductance calculation for climate 

zones 2-8 in Part 3.12.2.1(a)(ii)(B). 

Although slowing heat conduction into 

or out of a dwelling can be beneficial 

year round, the stringency is set by 

ensuring that the rate of heat loss in 

winter does not exceed the rate of heat 

gain that can be supplied by wintertime 

solar radiation. Winter gains can be 

at risk from shading or glass tinting 

to control summer gains unless good 

orientation and 

beneficial shading 

geometries are used. 

The new winter 

exposure factors 

take account of 

these opportunities 

to balance the 

competing 

summer and winter 

requirements. 

2. Table of glazing types 

needed for similar 

dwellings 

The extended calculation method for 

BCA 2010 means that 2009 and 2010 

stringencies cannot be compared 

simply in terms of percentage changes. 

Comparing requirements for similar 

dwellings, however, can illustrate their 

relative impacts. The table on the 

following page shows how the 2009 

provisions and the 2010 provisions 

affect dwellings with similar glazing 

layouts in each BCA climate zone. Two 

configurations are compared. 

The first configuration assumes that the 

total glazing area is distributed equally 

between the four faces of the dwelling 

which are oriented to the North, 

East, South and West. The dwelling is 

therefore “orientation neutral”, meaning 

that there is no advantage in rotating 

it through any 90° step. A typical level 

of shading by eaves is assumed for 

each climate zone and the table shows 

the glazing system needed if the same 

system is used throughout the dwelling. 

The glazing system needed may vary 


under the 2009 and 2010 provisions. The 

table also shows the permitted glazing 

ratio (the proportion of total glazing 

area to the dwelling floor area) in each 

case. 

The second configuration slightly skews 

glazing distribution to the favourable 

North orientation. 33% of the glazing 

faces North and 22% to each of the 

remaining cardinal orientations. The 

same glazing system is applied to this 

configuration but shading is increased 

in some cases to take advantage of 

opportunities for larger glazing areas. The 

effects of this favourable orientation are 

most obvious in climate zones 7 and 8. 

The examples shown are for houses 

with concrete slab on ground floors 

and Standard air movement levels. As 

in BCA 2009, the requirements are more 

demanding for houses with suspended 

floors but less so for houses with high 

air movement levels. Table 3.12.2.1 now 

allows ceiling fans to be used to meet 

the “High” air movement requirements. 

The “Standard” air movement provisions 

in Part 3.12.4.1 have reduced the 

minimum opening area needed for 

some situations in climate zone 1 from 

15% to 10%. This change prevents the 

opening requirements driving glazing 

areas to unhelpfully high levels. 

The assumption of a consistent glazing 

system throughout both example 

configurations is conservative because, 

in practice, North orientation in 

most locations will permit simpler 

and cheaper glazing systems than 

nominated for the whole dwelling. 

3. ABCB Office survey of 

typical glazing ratios 

Before energy efficiency measures for 

housing were introduced into the BCA, 

the ABCB Office conducted a 

survey of residential glazing 

ratios (the proportion of 

glazing to floor area) and 

published the findings on the 

ABCB website in 2002. The 

principal findings reported 

were: 

• Glazing ratios ranged from 

14% to 30% and averaged 

22%. 

• The highest average value 

for any one location was 

27% in Hobart. 

• The lowest average value 

was 16% in Alice Springs. 

• The populous centres of Brisbane, 

Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth had 

location averages lower than the 

national average of 22%. 

• Melbourne had a higher location 

average of 26%. 

The 22% national average glazing ratio 

identified by the survey coincided 

exactly with the average figure found 

by the original developers of the 

Nationwide House Energy Rating 

Scheme (NatHERS). 

ABCB Energy Efficiency project - 2010 elemental glazing proposals printed 10/2/10 

ENERGY EFFICIENCY BCA + IN iNDUSTRY THE BUILT NEWS ENVIRONMENT 

Comparison of glazing systems needed for similar dwellings in 2009 and 2010 

The examples shown are for houses with concrete slab on ground floors and Standard air movement levels. 

Requirements are more demanding for houses with suspended floors but less so for houses with High air movement. 

Calculations assume half of all glazing is 2100mm high and half is 1200mm high. Shading projections shown can include the depth of any window reveals (recesses). 

Equal glazing on all four sides 

One third of glazing facing North 

shading 

(mm) 

glazing / 

floor area 

glazing system 

shading 

(mm) 

glazing / 

floor area 

glazing system 

Climate zon e 1 2009 24% single clear glass in improved aluminium frames No change 

990 

990 

(eg. Darwin, Townsville) 2010 23% single toned glass in improved aluminium frames Wintertime solar heat gain is not considered in this climate 

Climate zon e 2 2009 33% single clear glass in improved aluminium frames 39% single clear glass in improved aluminium frames 

660 

990 

(eg. Brisbane) 2010 27% single low-e glass in improved aluminium frames 34% single low-e glass in improved aluminium frames 

Climate zon e 3 2009 21% single clear glass in timber or UPVC frame 25% single clear glass in timber or UPVC frame 

660 

660 

(eg. Longreach) 2010 22% single low-e glass in improved aluminium frames 23% single low-e glass in improved aluminium frames 

Climate zon e 4 2009 

660 

30% double clear glass (6mm air gap) 

660 

30% double clear glass (6mm air gap) 

(eg. Wagga Wagga) 2010 24% double clear glass (12mm air gap) 25% double clear glass (12mm air gap) 

Climate zon e 5 2009 

660 

35% single clear glass in improved aluminium frames 

990 

35% single clear glass in improved aluminium frames 

(eg. Sydney, Adelaide, 2010 28% single clear glass in improved aluminium frames 34% single clear glass in improved aluminium frames 

Perth) 

Climate zon e 6 2009 33% double clear glass (6mm air gap) 35% double clear glass (6mm air gap) 

165 

330 

(eg. Melbourne) 2010 27% double clear glass (12mm air gap) 31% double clear glass (12mm air gap) 

Climate zon e 7 2009 38% double clear glass (12mm air gap) 38% double clear glass (12mm air gap) 

0 

330 

(eg. Canberra, Hobart) 2010 28% double clear glass (12mm air gap) 39% double clear glass (12mm air gap) 

Climate zon e 8 2009 40% double low-e glass (12mm argon gap) in timber frame 40% double low-e glass (12mm argon gap) in timber frame 

0 

660 

(Alpine) 2010 40% double low-e glass (12mm argon gap) in timber frame 73% double low-e glass (12mm argon gap) in timber frame 


page 3 of 3 

• 21

INDUSTRY Perspective 

Four Decades of Service 

to Product Evaluation 

in the United States 

John Nosse 

Written by John Nosse, President Emeritus - ICC Evaluation Service, Inc. 

In the United States, regulation of 

building construction is primarily 

the responsibility of state and local 

governments in lieu of the federal 

government. States and local 

governments adopt laws, generally 

known as building codes, that are 

enforced by these bodies. They often 

encounter building products, materials, 

and methods that are not covered 

in the code, and help is needed in 

determining whether these items meet 

code requirements. This is how product 

evaluation services evolved. 

The leading building product 

evaluation service in the United 

States is ICC Evaluation Service, Inc. 

(ICC-ES), which is a subsidiary of the 

International Code Council (ICC). ICC 

publishes International Codes, which 

are the building codes used currently 

throughout the United States. ICC- 

ES is separately incorporated and 

serves building departments by 

publishing evaluation reports on the 

code compliance of specific building 

products. These reports are also useful 

to building-product manufacturers, 

as they provide the evidence needed 

to gain product approval from local 

jurisdictions for use in the field. 

After a number of years in private 

practice designing buildings, I joined 

the International Conference of Building 

Officials (ICBO) and was involved in 

all facets of its operations from code 

changes, plan review and education to 

product reviews. My involvement with 

evaluation reports began in 1971, when 

I was appointed Assistant Technical 

Director. At the time, there were three 

model building codes used in the United 

States, each in a different part of the 

country. ICBO published the Uniform 

Building Code (UBC) that was used 

throughout the Western states. 

As Assistant Technical Director, I helped 

to manage the ICBO product evaluation 

program, which in the early seventies 

had about 600 active evaluation reports 

addressing a wide range of building 

products. When a manufacturer 

voluntarily applied for a report, one of 

four ICBO product evaluation engineers 

was assigned to evaluate the product 

and determine whether it complied 

with the UBC. The engineer’s staff 

report was then considered in monthly 

open hearings by ICBO’s Research 

Committee, made up of building 

officials representing local governments. 

In closed sessions, the committee 

discussed and voted either to approve 

the staff report and recommendation or 

to hold it for “further study.” Approved 

product reports were published and 

distributed as hard copies to building 


departments throughout the region 

where the UBC was used. Members of 

those building departments could use 

the reports when they encountered 

unfamiliar products in the field. 

I assumed responsibility of the program 

in 1980. In 1983 the charge of the 

Research Committee was changed. 

Instead of approving individual 

evaluation reports, the committee 

discussed and approved “acceptance 

criteria” for different types of products 

on a quarterly basis in an entirely open 

and transparent process. The criteria 

were drafted by the ICBO technical staff 

which received valuable input from 

manufacturers, testing laboratories, 

consultants and other interested parties 

during open hearings. The criteria 

included testing requirements, quality 

control and installation considerations 

for products to be addressed in 

evaluation reports. 

In 1986, ICBO Evaluation Service 

(ICBO ES) was formed as a subsidiary 

corporation of ICBO, and I was its 

first president. At this same time, the 

Research Committee was renamed the 

Evaluation Committee. The meetings 

and committee deliberations continued 

to be open and transparent which is 

still the case today with the Evaluation 

Committee of ICC-ES. These meetings of 

building officials, where the proponents 

and opponents of given technical 

acceptance criteria have the opportunity 

to express their views to make their 

cases in open hearings, are one of 

the strongest elements of the ICC-ES 

evaluation process today. 

In the late eighties, ICBO ES began to 

address international issues such as 

trade in building products and related 

challenges of technical recognition. 

As president of ICBO ES, I made 

many visits to Asia, especially Japan, 

where ICBO had just assisted in the 

formation of the Japan Conference of 

Building Officials with the Ministry of 

Construction. ICBO and ICBO ES were 

also active in Latin America, especially 

Chile and Argentina; and in the Middle 

East, where American engineering firms 

involved in the development of the oil 

industry used the UBC extensively as a 

technical reference. I made a number 

of presentations with others in South 

America which led to ICBO opening an 

office in Argentina to promote the UBC 

and the organization. 

During this period in the United States, 

there were still three “model” building 

codes being used in different parts of 

the country; but the first steps were 

being taken towards creating one 

set of U.S. building codes, and one 

organization to publish those codes. 

As far as product evaluation was 

concerned, the three different code 

organizations had earlier partnered in 

1975 to form the National Evaluation 

Service (NES). This was a cooperative 

effort whereby a manufacturer could 

obtain a “National Evaluation Report” 

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• 23

INTERNATIONAL Perspective 

manufacturer could then use the report 

to help market his product nationwide. 

ICBO ES remained a member of the NES 

until 1999, when the decision was made 

to withdraw since the ICBO ES process 

for product evaluation was so radically 

different from the methods of the other 

NES members. 

The culmination of efforts to produce 

a single American building code came 

in 2000 when the first edition of the 

International Building Code (IBC) was 

published. In 2003, the three model 

code groups—ICBO in the Western 

states, BOCA (Building Officials and 

Code Administrators International) in 

the Northeast and Middle West, and 

SBCCI (Southern Building Code Congress 

International) in the South—merged to 

form ICC and publish the 2003 IBC. The 

previous organizations also merged 

their respective product evaluation 

services into NES which was renamed 

ICC Evaluation Service (ICC-ES). I 

was named as the first 

president. 

ICC-ES commenced 

operations in 2003 with 

1800 evaluation reports, 

which had originally 

been prepared by the 

four previous evaluation 

services using different 

building codes. However, 

ICC-ES immediately began 

issuing new reports 

under the IBC as a single 

integrated organization, 

as well as converting old 

reports (known as “legacy” 

reports) to address the 

new code. That process 

continues. 

My career in product 

evaluation is coming to an 

end. After four decades 

and a fulfilling leadership 

role with ICBO, ICBO ES, and 

now ICC-ES, I am stepping 

aside for younger people 

who can better address the 

challenges of the future. 

My hope is that ICC-ES will 

expand its services and 

its role both nationally 

and internationally, while 

maintaining its reputation 

for technical excellence. 

For more information, 

please go to: 

www.icc-es.org 


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• 25


Building Australia’s 

Future (BAF) 2009 

Conference OVERVIEW 

Written by Max Winter, Wintercomms on behalf of ABR Bulletin 

The Building Australia’s Future 

(BAF) Conference is the premier 

two-yearly event for those 

practitioners of the regulatory 

built environment who need to 

keep up to date with the latest 

developments. 

In September last year the BAF 

Conference and Exhibition was held 

at the RACV Royal Pines Resort at 

the Gold Coast, and the themes of 

Climate Change, Performance through 

Innovation and Energy Efficiency were 

presented to the record number of 

government, industry, association and 

individual delegates that attended. 

Given the Council of Australian 

Governments’ (COAG) charter for the 

Australian Building Code Board for more 

stringent energy efficiency measures 

in the Building Codes of Australia 

(BCA) in April last year, the Conference 

timing and topics were excellent, and 

provided an ideal avenue for conference 

delegates to hear nationally and 

internationally renowned speakers, to 

contribute to discussions and interactive 

workshops, to enjoy the excellent 

cuisine on offer at the lunches and 

breaks, and to network through the 

extensive social program. 

Day One: Climate Change: a 

moving target 

The first day of the Conference was 

themed Climate Change: a moving 

target, and Graham Huxley AM, 

Chairman of the Australian Building 

Codes Board, set the scene for an 

engaging day of presentations that 

outlined the challenges that lay ahead. 

Meeting the climate 

change challenge 

Geoff Mitchell, the QLD/NT Director 

of the Australian Institute of Building 

Surveyors, gave a broad outline of the 

challenges posed by the effects of rising 

sea levels. He provided a graphical 

representation of what these rising sea 

levels translated to in terms of built 

environment coast line under water, 

and the strategies required to deal with 

these outcomes. 

A passion for creating the future 

As if to set the scene, Charles Kovess, 

Australia’s Passion Provocateur, provided 

delegates with the timely reminder 

that we all have the power and the 

responsibility individually, to effect 

positive change within our thinking, our 

environment, and our lives. 

Adapting the built environment 

for climate change impacts 

Risk mitigation has been a phrase 

coined in relation to the challenge of 

climate change, and this was certainly 

the basis of the presentation by 

Catherine Farrell, Director, Settlement 

and Built Environment, Department 

of Climate Change in her address – 

‘Adapting the built environment for 

climate change impacts’. Catherine’s 

presentation provided an overview of 

the varied issues faced by government, 

local councils and industry groups in 

preparing for the outcomes of climate 

change, and left us in no doubt that 

the sheer number and scope of the 

challenges were awesome. 


The environmental assessment 

of buildings 

David Sharp ,Chief Executive of 

the Building Products Innovation 

Council, and Nigel Howard from Edge 

Environment provided the business 

case for Full Life Cycle Assessment of 

buildings moving forward, arguing that 

ultimately the full life cycle assessment 

of buildings – as opposed to an 

indicator of energy efficiency only - is 

the only true indicator of a building’s 

environmental footprint. 

Risk of damage to roofs from 

natural hazards 

Charles Slack-Smith, Director of Davis 

Langdon, spoke on the history and 

likelihood of hailstorms, and pointed 

out that the largest losses in Australian 

insurance history resulted from the April 

1999 Sydney hailstorm. Charles also 

spoke about roofing types and damage, 

and the need for the BCA to address the 

increasing likelihood of more frequent 

and bigger impact hailstorms due to 

climate change. 

Methods for dry-proofing 

housing: possible solution to 

climate change-related urban 

flood hazard 

One of the more intriguing 

presentations, by Dr Ivan Cole, Deputy 

Chief - Science CSIRO, presented on 

methods for dry-proofing housing 

to cope with the increased likelihood 

of flooding due to general sea level 

rise, increased storm surges, and 

more intensive rainfall events. These 

changes equated to an increased risk 

of flooding in urban areas, and Dr Ivan 

Cole presented research results on dryproofing, 

which is about preventing 

low-level floods from entering the 

building. Two prerequisites for any 

success were required; firstly that the 

structure was capable of withstanding 

the force of moving water, and secondly, 

that the flood be only temporary. 

Full life cycle assessment: the 

advantages, benefits and what 

we still have to learn 

Ross Maher, Sustainability Manager 

at Think Brick, spoke broadly on 

the emerging science of life-cycle 

assessment in buildings, 

and more specifically on 

the interplay of thermal 

mass and material 

R ratings in arriving 

at thermal comfort 

calculations in buildings. 

In the afternoon an 

Australian Institute of 

Building Surveyors (AIBS) 

workshop was held, 

and Tina Rakes, Director 

of Codes and Zoning, 

Baldwin City, Kansas, 

USA, gave a presentation 

on her volunteer team’s 

work in certifying and 

processing buildings 

demolished or damaged 

by hurricanes. The 

extent of the damage 

caused by these 

events simply defied 

description, and the 

images of flattened 

towns and littered 

streets projected on the 

conference screen left 

attendees shocked. 

Day Two- 

Performance 

through Innovation: meeting 

objectives & expectations 

Dr Brian Meacham introduced delegates 

to the theme of day two of the 

Conference, which was Performance 

through Innovation: meeting objectives 

and expectations. 

Overview of global bushfire 

(wildland) regulations 

Jon Traw, Principle, Traw Consulting, a 

registered civil and fire engineer gave 

an insightful overview of the status of 

bushfire regulations worldwide, the 

differences between U.S and Australian 

regulations, the issues identified, and 

the community expectations and 

regulatory objectives of the solutions 

proposed. Among the key issues 

identified were fire ember attack, public 

warning systems, and the advent and 

increasing prevalence of catastrophic 

fire- storms. 

Buildings: getting ready for 

digital TV 

Andy Townend, Deputy Secretary, 

Broadcasting & Digital Switchover, 

Department of Broadband, 

Communications and the Digital 

Economy, spoke on the government 

initiatives underway in ensuring a 

smooth transition from analogue 

to digital television and associated 

services. 

Shaping physical, social and 

green environments in aged care 

Catherine Thompson, Manager Service 

Development Aged Care, Victorian 

Department of Human Services, spoke 

on the design and care management 

issues that are unique to aged and 

dementia care, and the interplay of 

design, colour and management 

practices in providing solutions for aged 

and dementia care on a daily basis. 



• 27


Construction hazards prevention 

through design: a comparison 

of different mechanisms for 

regulation 

Tracey Cooke, Research Fellow, School 

of Property Construction & Project 

Management, RMIT, explained that 

while the incidence of compensated 

construction accidents was falling, 

compared to Australia generally, they 

were still significantly higher than 

the average. Evidence suggests that 

decisions made at the design stage 

of a building can have a significant 

impact on OHS during the construction, 

maintenance, occupation and 

demolition stages of a building’s life 

cycle. 

A question of continuing control: 

balancing building quality of 

housing and building codes 

Mohammed Azian Zaidi from Deakin 

University reminded delegates that 

the average cost of defects per house 

built between 1983 and 1997 in 

Victoria amounted to $4,225, which 

represents 4% of the contract value of 

new housing construction, with the 

most common causes of defects being 

inadequate design information and 

poor site practice, poor specification 

and construction practice, and noncompliance 

with building regulations. 

Prime reasons: lack of quality control, 

lack of interaction and communication 

between stakeholders, lack of technical 

guidance and conflicting requirements. 

Solution: whole of building 

commissioning, effective handover of 

operations, and effective briefing. 

Facilitating innovation without 

compromising performance: 

challenges faced, lessons 

learned, and a look into the 

future 

Among the many highlights of the day’s 

presentations was Dr Brian Meacham’s 

– Associate Professor, Department of 

Fire Protection Engineering, Worcester 

Polytechnic Institute, Maryland, USA. 

Brian argued (with a host of examples) 

that Performance Based (PB) regulatory 

systems are innovative, and that they 

facilitate innovation, and that while they 

deliver new opportunities, they also 

come with risk. 

Brian then provided an overview of the 

challenges to do with PB regulatory 

systems, and also an outline of the 

strategies employed in balancing 

innovation with risk. 

The role of Standards in 

supporting strategic priorities 

John Tucker, CEO of Standards 

Australia, took delegates through a 

brief history of Standards Australia, 

and went on to explain the steps in the 

process including engagement with 

the sector, performing a net benefit 

analysis, development pathways in 

the formulation of Standards, and 

innovation in Standards development. 

Triple stack car parking systems: 

an innovative solution to meet 

future fire safety challenges 

Wayne Bretherton, Director of Fire 

Engineering for UK & Western Europe, 

WSP Group PLC, explained the project 

requirements, 

the challenges, 

the regulatory 

framework and the 

Fire Engineering 

Assessment in 

arriving at a triple 

stack car parking 

system for a 

building where 

space was limited. 

Day Three - Energy Efficiency: 

Future Directions 

Ably chaired by Jon Traw, the third day 

of the conference focused on Energy 

Efficiency: Future Directions. 

Making a greenhouse difference 

with Australia’s buildings 

Dr Alan Pears, Associate Director, RMIT 

Centre for Design provided an excellent 

overview of the built environment’s 

sustainability key performance 

indicators, and where buildings stood 

in the Climate Change Agenda. Alan’s 

opening address was again followed 

by more detailed perspectives by the 

contributing departments, industry 

associations and groups, including: 

Developing a nationally 

consistent framework for setting 

building energy efficiency 

standards 

David Brunoro, Buildings & Government 

Energy Efficiency Branch DEWHA, who 

spoke on the Holy Grail of national 

building codes development, the 

development of a nationally consistent 

framework for setting building energy 

efficiency standards. 

Energy Efficiency: 

an industry perspective 

Kristin Tomkins, Executive Director 

Building Policy, Housing Industry 

Association got everyone on their 

feet (for her industry head-count) and 

argued for greater clarity, uniformity 

and education in the provision of energy 

efficiency regulations for industry to 

understand, assimilate and act on. 

Thermal resistance of Australian 

roofing systems 

Dr Martin Belusko, Research Fellow, 

Institute for Sustainable Systems and 

Technologies, University of South 

Australia, explained some of the 

advances intended for inclusion in the 

development of the next generation 

of thermal assessment software, and 

most specifically to answer the vexing 

anomalies caused by thermal bridging. 


A practical application of the UK 

sustainability requirements 

Wayne Bretherton, Director of Fire 

Engineering for UK & Western Europe, 

WSP Group PLC, gave an excellent 

presentation on the 43 storey strata 

tower complex in the Elephant and 

Castle district of London, the design 

features that contributed to the higher 

levels of energy performance in the 

building, its design intent in terms of 

providing a percentage of affordable 

housing, and its integration into 

the MUSCo combined heating and 

power system, a local district biomass 

powered co-generation system 

pioneered by engineer Alan Jones in 

England, (and embraced by the City of 

London, and subsequently reviewed by 

the City of Sydney). 

Improving the energy 

performance of buildings 

Dennis D’Arcy, CEO Insulation Council of 

Australia & New Zealand spoke on the 

benefits of insulation, and improving 

the energy performance of buildings, 

as well as highlighting key findings that 

suggest a combination of regulation and 

incentives are the most effective drivers 

for change. 

The influence of R-values on 

the thermal characteristics of 

Australian housing 

Adrian Page, Emeritus Professor , Faculty 

of Engineering & the Built Environment, 

University of Newcastle presented 

an experimental study of the various 

walling systems in housing, with some 

interesting preliminary findings. Firstly, 

that there is no correlation between wall 

R-values and thermal performance for 

either floating or controlled interiors. 

Secondly therefore, that reliance on 

R-value alone in deemed to satisfy 

provisions would be questionable. 

Thirdly, the presentation asked the 

question: could the best performance 

be obtained from a combination of high 

thermal resistance and thermal mass? 

The morning’s sessions then culminated 

in a presentation by John Kennedy, 

Energy Efficiency Manager, Australian 

Building Codes Board, who spoke on 

The Building Code: keeping step, and 

in particular the progress on the energy 

efficiency reporting requirements 

mandated by the Council of Australian 

Governments (COAG) and the ABCB’s 

consultation with associations, state 

governments, industry groups and 

practitioners. 

The Association of Building 

Sustainability Assessors (ABSA) provided 

an excellent workshop on the Energy 

Efficiency Simulation Tools in the 

afternoon, giving practical case study 

examples of the software in situ, and an 

outline of the issues involved. 

The conference provided a great 

opportunity to meet with industry 

practitioners, to better understand the 

component contributors that make 

up the rich and varied tapestry of the 

regulatory environment nationally and 

around the globe, and to understand 

some of our efforts, responsibilities 

and obligations in delivering a more 

sustainable built environment. 



• 29

EGULATOrY DEvELOPMENT 

DrAFT STANDArD FOr 

PrivATE BUSHFirE SHELTErS 

Written by Ray Loveridge, Project Manager, Australian Building Codes Board 

In February 2009 the Victorian 

Bushfires Royal Commission (VBRC) was 

established to investigate the causes 

and responses to a series of devastating 

bushfires that resulted in the tragic loss 

of one hundred and seventy-three lives. 

The VBRC delivered Interim Reports in 

August and November 2009 and a Final 

Report is expected in July 2010. 

The ABCB has monitored evidence 

tendered during the VBRC hearings, 

particularly evidence relating to 

buildings and building matters and 

the performance of various structures 

used to shelter from the bushfires. The 

capacity of some of these structures, 

commonly called ‘bunkers’, varied 

considerably and it was reported that 

seven people died while sheltering 

in bunkers during the Black Saturday 

bushfires. 

At its September 2009 meeting the 

Board determined that work would 

begin immediately on development of 

a national Technical Standard for private 

bushfire shelters. 

In response to the Board’s decision an 

ABCB Reference Group was established 

comprising individuals with expertise 

in a variety of relevant fields including 

building in bushfire prone areas, 

building materials science, fire safety 

engineering and building control 

administration. The Reference Group 

held its initial meeting in October and 

discussed an array of topics related to 

the development of a draft ‘bunker 

standard’. 

The new standard will be presented 

as a performance-based document 

that will contain a fundamental 

Performance Requirement supported 

by a combination of qualitative and 

quantitative design criteria that will 

enable designers to make informed 

decisions regarding the development of 

designs for private bushfire shelters. 

To-date, a draft framework for the 

document has been developed, 

including the proposed Performance 

Requirement, as well as a model process 

for application of the document. 

Development of supporting quantitative 

and qualitative design data for specific 

components of the design process will 

be an ongoing task. 

The ABCB expects the standard to be 

available for use before the end of 

April 2010. 

An essential step for application of 

the standard will be the classification 

of a structure in accordance with 

relevant provisions of the BCA. State 

and Territory administrations recently 

agreed that a ‘private bushfire shelter’ 

would be a Class 10c building for the 

purposes of their respective building 

control systems. 

While the new standard will establish 

design requirements for bushfire 

shelters, it is critical for the preservation 

of life safety that property owners 

comprehend that a shelter should only 

be considered to be a last resort means 

of defence against the life threatening 

risk of bushfire attack. Bushfire shelters 

may not prevent loss of life or serious 

injury; however they may provide a 

limited level of protection when no 

viable alternative measures are available. 

The occupation of a private bushfire 

shelter is at best the least preferable 

measure of a broad suite of measures 

to mitigate risk to life safety, including 

sound urban planning and fuel 

management strategies, education of 

home owners, effective coordination of 

efforts by authorities and communities, 

prediction of bushfire spread and clarity 

in community notification procedures. 

As the VBRC heard in evidence, even the 

best prepared still lost their lives in 

some instances. 

Nevertheless, a bushfire can be an 

extremely unpredictable event and 

assistance from a bushfire defence effort 

may not be available at a time of need. 


CONTACT DETAILS FOR STATE AND TERRITORY 

BUILDING CONTROL ADMINISTRATIONS 

WESTERN AUSTRALIA 

Building Commission 

Dept of Commerce 

31 Troode St, West Perth, WA 6005 

PO Box 6039, East Perth, WA 6892 

Telephone: 1300 489 099 

E-mail: buildingcontrol@bmw.wa.gov.au 

Hours: 8.30am-5.00pm 

Web site: www.bmw.wa.gov.au 

NORTHERN TERRITORY 

Department of Lands and Planning 

Building Advisory Services Branch 

Cavenagh House, 38 Cavenagh Street, 

Darwin NT 0800 

GPO Box 1680, Darwin, NT 0801 

Telephone: 08 8999 8960 

E-mail: bas.lpe@nt.gov.au 


Web site: www.nt.gov.au 

QUEENSLAND 

Department of Infrastructure and Planning 

Building Codes Queensland Division 

Level 3, 63 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000 

PO Box 15009, City East, QLD 4002 

Telephone: 07 3239 6369 

E-mail: buildingcodes@dip.qld.gov.au 


Web site: www.dip.qld.gov.au 

SUSTAINABILITY 

SOUTH AUSTRALIA 

Department of Planning and Local Government, Building Policy 

Roma Mitchell House 

136 North Terrace, Adelaide, SA 5000 

GPO Box 1815, Adelaide, SA 5001 

Telephone: 08 8303 0602 

E-mail: plnsa.building@saugov.sa.gov.au 


Web site: www.planning.sa.gov.au 

VICTORIA 

Building Commission Victoria 

733 Bourke Street, Docklands, VIC 3008 

PO Box 536, Melbourne, VIC 3001 

Telephone: 1300 815 127 

E-mail: technicalenquiry@buildingcommission.com.au 


Web site: www.buildingcommission.com.au 

TASMANIA 

Department of Justice, 

Workplace Standards Tasmania 

Building Control Branch 

30 Gordons Hill Road, Rosny Park, TAS 7018 

PO Box 56, Rosny Park, TAS 7018 

Telephone: 03 6233 7657 

E-mail: wstinfo@justice.tas.gov.au 


Web site: www.wst.tas.gov.au 

NEW SOUTH WALES 

Dept of Planning, 

Lands Department Building 

23-33 Bridge Street, Sydney NSW 2000 

GPO Box 39 Sydney NSW 2001 

Telephone: 02 9228 6111 

E-mail: information@planning.nsw.gov.au 

Hours: 9.00am-5.00pm Mon – Fri, 

however BCA technical questions will be 

answered 9.30 – 11.30 Tue-Thu 

on 02 9228 6529 

Web site: www.planning.nsw.gov.au 

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY 

ACT Planning and Land Authority 

Ground Floor South, 

Dame Pattie Menzies House 

16 Challis Street, Dickson ACT 2602 

GPO Box 1908, Canberra City, ACT 2601 

Telephone: 02 6207 1923 

E-mail: actpla.customer.services@act.gov.au 


Web site: www.actpla.act.gov.au 


• 31

INTERNATIONAL Regulatory Development 

LPG powered cars – 

new regulations for 

garages in Austria 

Written by Dr. Rainer Mikulits, Austrian Institute of Construction Engineering 

In an attempt to harmonize the very 

different building regulations of 

the Austrian provinces, the Austrian 

Institute of Construction Engineering 

(OIB) issued in 2007 a set of “OIB- 

Guidelines” which serve as common 

building codes, and which have 

already been taken over by a number 

of provinces. These OIB-Guidelines are 

structured according to the “Essential 

Requirements” on construction works 

which have been established in the EU 

Construction Products Directive 1 , and 

which have been taken over into the 

building regulations of the Member 

States. Consequently there are six 

OIB-Guidelines, with two additional 

sub-guidelines in the field of fire safety, 

dealing with particular buildings (e.g. 

industrial buildings, garages) 2 . 

Specific provisions for garages had been 

so far established in OIB-Guidelines 2.2 

“Fire protection in the case of garages, 

covered parking spaces and multistorey 

car parks”, in OIB-Guideline 3 

“Hygiene, health and the environment” 

and in OIB-Guideline 4 “Safety in use 

and accessibility”. While the latter deals 

with parking space sizes, aisle width, 

maximum incline of ramps etc., and OIB- 

Guideline 2.2 with safety in case of fire, 

OIB-Guideline 3 covers the ventilation 

of garages with regard to hygiene and 

health. 

Due to the geographical location of 

Austria, neighbouring new EU Member 

States, not far from other eastern 

European countries, the occurrence of 

LPG powered cars has increased over 

the last years. So far gas powered cars 

have only been taken into account with 

regard to ventilation in OIB-Guideline 

3, however there were no detailed 

provisions but only very general 

functional requirements applying for 

garages in which gas powered cars may 

enter. This was not considered to be 

sufficient and therefore an expert group 

has been given the task to review these 

provisions and to propose appropriate 

amendments. These specific provisions 

concerning gas powered cars were 

also considered to be more related to 

safety in case of fire than to hygiene and 

health, which is why they have been 

moved to OIB-Guideline 2.2. 

Distinction must be made between 

compressed natural gas (CNG) and 

liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or 

autogas). For CNG it was not considered 

necessary to establish additional 

requirements, since CNG is mainly 

composed of methane (CH4), and its 

molar mass is much lower than the 

one of LPG, which consists mainly of 

propane and butane. Also the lower 

flammable limit of CNG is significantly 

higher (about 5 % by volume). Due 

to the density of LPG which is higher 

than the one of air, leaking LPG will 

accumulate on the floor and seep down 

into lower ducts and shafts. For these 

reasons it was considered necessary 

to established different and additional 

requirements for LPG powered cars 

compared with petrol, diesel or CNG 

powered cars. 

Further more, many of the LPG cars 

appearing especially in the eastern parts 

of Austria are older cars which have 

been converted to LPG. Safety valves, 

gas tightness of system components, 

position of the tank and of the filler 

might in such cases not always be the 

state of the art. In such cases even 

boiling liquid expanding vapour 

explosions (BLEVE) may occur 3 . 


The expert group finally proposed the 

following additional requirements for 

garages which need to be fulfilled if LPG 

powered cars are to enter the garage 

and be parked there: 

1. The lowest parking level needs 

to adjoin an external wall with 

ventilation openings at floor level 

and above the surface level of the 

adjacent terrain. 

2. Drains in the floor must have gas 

tight openings. 

3. No connections from parking levels 

to rooms with heating, ventilation or 

air conditioning appliances, or to any 

room which is fully below the level of 

the adjacent terrain. 

4. Natural and mechanical ventilation 

must be effective continuously. 

5. In case of natural ventilation, there 

must be openings at floor level as 

well as at a level of at least 2 m above 

floor level. The sum of the effective 

cross sectional area of the upper and 

the lower openings respectively must 

each be at least 1 % of the floor area. 

6. The natural or mechanical ventilation 

systems shall effectively prevent the 

occurrence of an ignitable liquid gas 

air mixture in a defined distance from 

the exit point. 

7. Mechanical ventilation systems 

need to be protected from potential 

explosions. 

8. Garages and park decks with other 

uses above the park levels (e.g. shops, 

apartments) must be equipped with 

fire sprinkler systems. 

At the entrances of garages and park 

decks which do not fulfil the above 

requirements, there must be a traffic 

sign indicating that no LPG-vehicles may 

enter. 

The requirements are prescriptive, 

with the exception of requirement 6 

which is performance based 4 . Attempts 

were made to be more specific on this 

point, but the actual air flow, especially 

in the case of mechanical ventilation, 

is too dependent on geometry and 

possible temperature gradients, 

and the committee finally refrained 

from establishing more concrete 

requirements. 

The amended versions of the OIB- 

Guidelines will be adopted mid 2010, 

and it is expected that the Austrian 

provinces will put them into force in 

2011. 

1 

Council Directive of 21 December 1998 on 

the approximation of laws, regulations and 

administrative provisions of the Member 

States relating to construction products 

(89/106/EEC). 

2 

OIB-Guideline 1 Mechanical resistance and 

sustainability 

OIB-Guideline 2 Safety in case of fire 

OIB-Guideline 2.1 Fire protection with regard 

to industrial buildings 

OIB-Guideline 2.2 Fire protection in the case 

of garages, covered parking spaces and multistorey 

car parks 

OIB-Guideline 3 Hygiene, health and the 

environment 

OIB-Guideline 4 Safety in use and accessibility 

OIB Guideline 5 Protection against noise 

OIB Guideline 6 Energy economy and heat 

retention 

3 

A BLEVE of an LPG tank can for example occur 

if, due to an external fire, the temperature 

of the liquefied gas in the tank increases to 

an extent that the gas starts to boil and to 

vaporize. If the safety valve does not work 

well, that causes an increase of pressure in the 

tank, and the temperature will also weaken 

the metal of the tank. If the tank eventually 

fails, the leaking (vaporized) gas ignites in a 

violent explosion. 

4 

The requirements can be seen as deemed-tosatisfy 

solutions within the two-tier approach 

applied: the first level consists of functional 

requirements, established in Regulations of 

the provinces, whereas the OIB-Guidelines 

contain performance requirements and 

prescriptive requirements. It is possible to 

deviate from the OIB-Guidelines when an 

equal level of safety can be demonstrated. 

INTERNATIONAL REGULARTORY DEVELOPMENT 


• 33


FIRE PROTECTION ISSUES 

FOR MULTI-STOREY BUILDINGS 

IN CHINA 

Written by Tong Xiaochao, China Academy of Building Research Certification Center 

One of the outcomes of the rapid rise 

of China as a world economic power 

has been the exponential increase 

of urbanisation and development of 

multi-storey buildings, especially within 

the larger cities such as Beijing and 

Shanghai. 

While these buildings are a necessary 

component of the rapid expansion of 

these cities, their development has 

highlighted key essential safety issues 

such as fire protection. 

On the night of February 9th, 2009 at 

around 20:30 hours, during the holding 

of the Chinese traditional lantern 

festival, the Television Cultural Center 

(TVCC) tower was ignited by fireworks. 

The TVCC tower is an important part 

of China Central Television (CCTV) and 

is adjacent to the iconic headquarters 

of CCTV. The TVCC tower is 159 metres 

high and the building area is 103,000 

square metres. The TVCC tower is 

actually a composite of three structures; 

a luxury hotel, a television studio, and an 

electronic data processing centre. 

Although the fire-brigade came in 

time, it took around 6 hours to put 

out the fire. The problem was that the 

high pressure water could not reach 

100 metre flame. After investigation 

it was announced that the damaged 

area of the building was 100,000 

square metres, and the electronic data 

processing centre was totally destroyed. 

The weather at that time was dry and 

the wind speed was 0.9 metre/second 

on average. Theoretically the wind 

influence was not of great significance, 

although it was not easy to estimate the 

actual wind speed at the top of TVCC 

tower. Factors impacting on the event 

included the fact that the building 

was not yet completed at the time and 

that the sprinkler system had yet to be 

installed. 

This case proves again that fire 

protection is a very important issue for 

skyscrapers, and some of the aspects to 

consider include: 

1. Thermal insulation 

material 

In the last few years building energy 

conservation has been a key issue in 

China. In North China the application 

of building exterior wall insulation 

technology was introduced mostly 

because of the climate character. In 

summer it is very hot, and in winter it is 

very cold and windy. 

The advantages of building exterior wall 

insulation technology include: 

• Large volume of heat storage 

capacity of the solid wall 

• Increased occupant comfort levels 

• Protection for the main building 

structure 

• Increase in interior room space 

In China the curtain wall is the main 

medium and high grade decoration for 

buildings. It can be divided into three 

types: 

• Glass curtain wall 

• Aluminium plank curtain wall 

• Stone curtain wall 

Unfortunately these curtains cannot 

be used separately without additional 

thermal insulation material because 

the individual heat transfer coefficient 

of the curtain wall is quite high. In 

order to meet the energy conservation 

requirements thermal insulation 

materials are adopted behind the 

curtain wall. 


There are 3 main material types used for 

exterior wall insulation: 

• Inorganic thermal insulation material 

such as mineral wool, glass fibre, and 

expanded and vitrified small Ball. 

These materials are non flammable, 

but they are not generally used 

because of other characteristics, 

which cannot meet some of the 

technical requirements. 

• Mixed organic and inorganic thermal 

insulation material such as gum 

powder polyphony granule, which is 

difficult to flame. 

• Organic thermal insulation materials 

such as polystyrene foam, which is 

quite flammable. The most adopted 

thermal insulation materials in North 

China are materials such as EPS, 

which are quite flammable. 

Recent fire disasters have highlighted 

two problems with these thermal 

insulation materials, namely the 

flammability of these materials, and 

secondly, that these materials are 

constructed and connected together in 

one big piece, resulting in a high speed 

of flame spread. 

For example, the TVCC tower had 

adopted an aluminium curtain wall with 

highly flammable thermal insulation 

material, which burned from top to 

bottom within 10 minutes. 

Other problems highlighted by these 

fire disasters include: 

• The rapid rate of flame spread due to 

the chimney effect; 

• Choice of materials such as the 

surface mortar, which covered the 

thermal insulation material: surface 

mortar chaps and breaks off due 

to the high temperature, leaving 

the flammable thermal insulation 

material to be burned; 

• The indoor fire protection system 

cannot provide protection for the 

exterior wall. In this case the system 

is not designed to control or contain 

the flame outside. 

2. Construction management 

In recent years there have been several 

cases of fire disasters in multi-storey 

buildings in North China, with similar 

circumstances: 

• They all used highly flammable 

thermal insulation materials 

• The fire disasters occurred during the 

construction phase. 

These events have demonstrated that 

not only building material, but also 

construction management is a key issue. 

For example, some flammable materials 

ignite due to sparks from welding 

works on site. Some fire protection 

requirements should be enforced in 

order to reduce the possibility of fire. 

For example, the flammable thermal 

insulation material and waterproof 

material should be covered with a fire 

protective coating before it is brought 

on site. 

If flammable thermal insulation material 

is to be used, it is absolute necessary to 

instigate some control measures at the 

time of storage and installation of the 

material in order to avoid the potential 

risk from welding spark or other 

practices during the construction phase. 

3. Fire protection and energy 

conservation building 

regulations 

In reviewing these cases, we have to 

recognise that building regulations play 

a role. Our building regulations for fire 

protection and energy conservation 

need further development and 

improvement in order to meet these 

challenges. 

First of all, it is necessary to develop 

a reasonable coordination level and 

benchmark for energy conservation and 

fire protection requirements. Secondly, 

buildings which are under construction 

require new inspection and testing 

methods for exterior wall thermal 

materials. 

be adopted for existing buildings where 

highly flammable materials for the 

exterior wall have been installed. For 

example, fire protection isolation should 

be put into effect. 

On the whole, the issue of fire 

protection of multi storey buildings is 

of critical importance to our lives and 

welfare. While we focus on the energy 

conservation issues within buildings, 

we cannot do this in isolation of other 

essential safety requirements. We must 

also remember forever another issue - 

our fire protection systems. 

All images are in the public domain and 

courtesy of the internet. 

Email: xiaochao.tong@googlemail.com 

www.cabr.com.cn 


Finding suitable non-flammable thermal 

insulation material that meets with 

the requirements of the exterior wall 

therefore, is a priority. 

It is not enough to review and control 

the flammability of materials or 

products. We need to review these 

requirements from the perspective of 

the whole engineering system. Thirdly, 

some fire protection measures should 


• 35


Fire Engineering, 

the Building Codes 

and Sustainability 

Interview with Wayne Bretherton, - Director of Fire Engineering for U.K and Western Europe, WSP Group. 

Originally from Australia, Wayne 

worked at the Australian Building 

Codes Board and the New 

Zealand Department of Building 

and Housing before moving to 

the U.K where he worked for WSP, 

a multi-disciplinary engineering 

company with locations and 

business world-wide, which 

includes Australia’s WSP 

Lincolne Scott. 

Wayne presented at the Building 

Australia’s Future Conference in 

September 2009, and took time out of 

his busy schedule at the time to speak 

to ABR Bulletin’s Max Winter about 

innovation in performance based fire 

engineering, the building codes as they 

relate to fire, and sustainability. 

For a full transcript of the interview, go 

to www.abcb.gov.au. 

ABR Bulletin: Your title suggests that you 

work in a broad geographical region, 

where have you been to date? 

WB: I tend to work everywhere from 

Northern Europe and Northern Africa 

to the Middle East, America, Asia 

– unfortunately I travel quite a bit. 

The most recent scheme I have been 

working on is in Cairo, an amazing city of 

some 14 million people, and it has been 

a bit of fun. 

The interesting thing in having worked 

in Australia, New Zealand, the U.K 

and elsewhere is that fire codes and 

standards, and the principles of fire 

safety, getting people out of buildings 

and so forth, are all the same. Everyone 

is trying to do the same thing, but 

they just do it differently. It is about 

understanding what some of those 

cultural differences are, and working 

with them, rather than imposing your 

regime onto theirs. 

ABR Bulletin: You no doubt have a pretty 

good understanding of the BCA here and 

the building codes in the U.K. What are 

some of the differences that you see? 

WB: The big differences are really 

around where building regulation or 

building codes focus, and the means 

of achieving the aim. For example, if I 

took the BCA and compared them to 

the American codes, and the British 

codes, our codes are somewhere in the 

middle. The American codes are very 

active-systems based codes whilst the 

UK codes are more reliant on passive 

protection. The Australian codes, or 

the prescriptive components of the 

code at least, are a mixture of the two 

approaches combining active systems 

with some passive options as well. 

The U.K codes are more heavily 

weighted toward passive options to 

ensure there is separation between 

occupants and a fire. A good example 

is the way you design an apartment. In 

the U.K the typical apartment design 

is based on not having to escape from 

a bedroom through a living space. 

Occupants must travel via a protective 

entrance hall inside the apartment, 

which is a 30 minute fire-rated hallway. 

This means the design always has a 

hallway connecting the front door 

to bedrooms, and the living space is 

beyond. And you are also not allowed to 

pass your kitchen on your way out. 

It is only recently that sprinkler 

protection was introduced into the 

prescriptive guidance for residential 

buildings over 30 m high whereas 

elsewhere, we have tended to sprinklerprotect 

these types of buildings for 

some time. 

This is not to say that lots of people 

die in these apartment scenarios. 

Percentage wise the number of deaths 

in the U.K is not that dissimilar to 

elsewhere; it is simply a different way of 

achieving the same objective. It is also 

a cultural thing; people seem to prefer 

rooms in their apartment rather than 

an open layout, and I think that this 

preference comes from the way houses 

were constructed in the past, where 

they had smaller rooms that were easier 

to keep warm. 

The other difference in the U.K fire 

regulations is that escape from 

residential buildings is based on what is 

called a ‘protect in place’ approach. In 

Australia we would evacuate a building 

if there is a fire, but in the U.K they 

would just evacuate the apartment 

concerned, and if you lived next door 

to an apartment that was on fire, you 

would not know unless there was smoke 

in the corridor and you decided to 

evacuate. It is a different philosophy of 

how you design and construct buildings. 

ABR Bulletin: Given that last scenario 

in particular, how does that impact on 

building design in the U.K? 

WB: You tend to end up with single 

stair high rise buildings as normal 

construction practice. You have a 

limited travel distance in the common 

corridor, but you can build a single 

stair residential building as high as you 


like. Compare that to Australian and US 

codes; after the 25 metres you need two 

stairs in all cases, regardless of the travel 

distance in the corridor. 

In the Australian context, there have 

been fire engineered options developed 

that look at single stair solutions, but 

in the U.K the single stair scenario is 

the accepted way of doing it under the 

prescriptive code, and it is because of 

the evacuation methodology that it 

is used, compared to here where the 

approach is accepted. 

ABR Bulletin: As a fire engineer, what 

are some of the better options you have 

seen throughout the world in terms of 

codes? 

WB: That is an interesting question, 

because I think one of the good things 

about the Australian system and the 

Australian codes is the fact that you 

have a framework to actually assess 

performance fire engineered solutions 

against. 

The BCA performance requirements set 

down what you need to achieve and 

what you need to look at. In contrast, 

the U.K regulations have a functional 

requirement, which is a single statement 

on what you need to achieve. This tends 

to lead to an inconsistency in how fire 

engineering is applied. 

The US codes are more prescriptive 

when it comes to fire engineering. For 

example, NFPA 101, Chapter5, sets out 

a process for how fire engineering is 

done and what type of fire scenarios you 

should be looking at. 

But I think what is interesting is 

the differences between how fire 

engineering is used or perceived 

between the world and Australia, and 

this is where Australia is different to 

other countries. Elsewhere in the world 

the fire code consultant and the fire 

engineer are usually the one person that 

produces a holistic fire strategy covering 

all fire safety requirements including 

any prescriptive code requirement as 

well as addressing any fire engineered 

solutions. In Australia you typically have 

a Building Surveyor, and a Fire Engineer. 

The Building Surveyor does the code 

consulting, and the Fire Engineer 

supports the Building Surveyor and does 

the technical analysis of solutions. 

In all parts of the world they all deal with 

the typical issues such as getting the 

people out and getting the fire brigade 

in, but as a consultant your agreement 

changes depending on the country you 

work in. 

A fire engineering consultant’s role in 

Australia, the U.K and the US, has a remit 

of making sure the building achieves fire 

safety in a cost-efficient manner so fire 

engineering is more readily used. 

In places like the Middle East it is about 

de-risking the scheme. The schemes can 

get built so quickly, you cannot afford to 

spend a lot of time in negotiation with 

authorities, so it is about making sure 

that the scheme is robust enough to 

ensure it is easily approved. 

For example, we recently designed 

a very large and complex mixed use 

building in the Middle East where the 

architects were based in London and 

Chicago and a structural and mechanical 

engineering designer based in Paris. 

We did the entire design from scratch 

facing geographical and programme 

challenges in 16 weeks. Elsewhere, the 

design of a building of this size and 

complexity design could be anything up 

to 12 to 18 months long. 

When you have a longer design program 

you are actually able to enter into a 

meaningful dialogue with authorities 

around how the design should be 

progressed. When the design program is 

compressed as much as in my example 

the role of the fire engineer is to de-risk; 

to ensure that what is being designed in 

a hurry is safe and will be approved. 

ABR Bulletin: In your presentation on the 

Strata Tower within the London Borough 

of Southwark, you mentioned some 

novel and innovative approaches in fire 

engineering, such as tying the sprinkler 

systems into the domestic water supply. 

How radical an approach is this? 

WB: It was new in a U.K context, 

although domestic sprinkler systems are 

not new. If you look at low rise sprinkler 

systems, you would see that they do 

actually come off domestic supplies. 

What we did was to take that approach 

and apply it to a 43 storey building. 

Our rationale in applying this approach 

was that water for domestic use needs 

to be pumped up and stored in the 

building to cope with peak demands 

such as when people get ready in the 

morning and that this level of storage 

far exceeds anything needed for the 

operation of the sprinkler system. 

The system we designed also connected 

the sprinklers to the toilet cistern 

creating a flow-through system. This 

means there was no problem with 

mixing the sprinkler water with the 

potable supply as there was not an 

opportunity for the water to stagnate 

in the sprinkler pipes. It also means 

that system reliability is maintained, 

because every time someone flushes 

the toilet, you know you have water in 

the sprinkler system. It was a simple but 

effective approach. 

It was novel in the U.K context, firstly 

because at that time buildings of this 

height did not need sprinkler systems. 

In 2007 they introduced a requirement 

to install sprinkler systems in buildings 

over 30 metres high, but at the time of 

its design, the building did not need 

it. Secondly, it was novel because it 

was not as “belts and braces” as a fullyfledged 

sprinkler system with separate 

infrastructure, pumps and tanks. 

ABR Bulletin: It sounds very much 

like the whole-of-system approach 

engendered in AS1851. 

WB: Exactly. It is all about reliability and 

making sure the water is there to do 

what it is meant to do, when it needs to, 

and designing the system in this way 

achieves that in a simple design. 

Wayne has recently returned to 

Australia and is now a Director of 

Philip Chun Fire & Risk based in 

Brisbane. 

www.philipchun.com.au 



• 37

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BRANZ: Installed performance of ceiling insulation 

BRANZ recently compared the in situ 

performance of ceiling insulation 

installed in the more traditional layout of 

friction-fitting between ceiling framing, 

with the same insulation installed 

over the top of framing (without any 

insulation between the framing). 

Led by Ian Cox-Smith, BRANZ Building 

Physicist, the recent BRANZ research 

project looked at what gives the best 

performance. 

Figure 1: Polyester insulation fitted against 

framing in the way the R-value has traditionally 

been calculated. 

Figure 2: Thermal resistance improves when 

insulation is cut to the width of the space 

between framing plus twice the width of the 

frame (2 × 45 mm). 

BRANZ Building Physicist Ian Cox-Smith 

Different options assessed 

The project used heat flux transducers 

to take in situ measurements of thermal 

resistance. This was measured for the 

three ceilings in the study after the same 

insulation material had been installed in 

each of several different ways: 

• The testing of ceilings and existing 

insulation before a sufficient area 

(approximately 4 m2) of the insulation 

was removed. 

• Insulation installed both between 

and over the framing. (Figure 1) 

• Insulation cut and friction-fitted 

between the framing. (Figure 2) 

• Insulation installed over the framing. 

(Figure 3) 

Further laboratory-based measurements 

were made using the BRANZ heat flow 

meter, in conjunction with thermal 

modelling, to confirm the thermal effect 

of insulation friction-fitted around 

framing. 

Better fit, better performance 

between framing 

Where insulation was cut to a suitable 

width and fitted between the framing, 

it was possible to achieve a visibly 

continuous insulation layer with no 

framing showing. When this happened, 

the thermal performance measured 

was significantly better than is normally 

calculated for the common situation 

with visible framing. It was close to what 

is expected with the same insulation 

over the top of the framing, with no 

convective losses assumed. 

Thermal modelling has demonstated 

that it would be possible to adjust 

Thermal Resistance calculations 

to account for the better thermal 

performance achieved when insulation 

is fitted to cover the framing. In contrast, 

it would be difficult to model the 

situation of convective bridging through 

insulation fitted over the top of framing. 

Between framing has many 

pluses 

Fitting insulation for good performance 

is easier between framing than over the 

top of framing. Convective losses from 

gaps are more likely in the latter case. It 

is relatively easy to see that insulation 

fitted between framing is insulating the 

framing – the framing will not be visible 

when this has been done correctly. 

Visually assessing that insulation 

installed over framing has been fitted 

well enough to minimise convective 

bridging is much more difficult. 

BCA PRODUCT + iNDUSTRY INNOVATION NEWS 

Table 1: Summary of results from the three ceilings. 

Figure 3: Installing insulation between and over 

the top of framing gives the best R-values. 

Thermal resistance (m²K/W) 

Estimated measurement (uncertainty 10%) 

Ceiling A Ceiling B Ceiling C 

Original insulation R1.5 R1.7 R2.2 

Single layer of insulation over the 

top of framing 

Calculated from modelling R3.6 

Single layer of insulation frictionfitted 

between framing 

Calculated from modelling R3.6 

Layer of insulation between 

framing and second layer framing 

R1.5 (initial) 

R3.5 (refitted to close gaps) 

R1.5 

R3.5 R3.7 

>R5 R4.8 

Calculated from modelling R6.5 R5.2 


• 39




Between and over provides the 

ultimate performance 

As would be expected, installing a layer 

of insulation between the framing, 

and another on top and over the rafter, 

achieved the best results (see Figure 

3 and Table 1). The downside is that it 

takes longer to install. 

To view the BRANZ Study Report SR211 

go to www.branz.co.nz. 

BRANZ thermal testing 

BRANZ has a registered testing facility 

for measuring the properties of 

thermal insulation materials. It has 

staff experienced in the thermal and 

insulation performance of buildings, and 

in the measurement of building energy 

efficiency. 

Areas of thermal expertise include: 

• Accredited testing to ASTM C518 and 

AS/NZS 4859.1 

• ASTM C1363 Guarded Hot Box 

thermal resistance measurement of 

constructed panels 

• In-situ measurement of thermal 

conductivity using large area heat 

flux sensors 

• Precision measurement of thickness 

and loft recovery of fibrous thermal 

insulation, including ASTM C167 

• Suppliers of equipment for thermal 

insulation thickness measurement 

• Standing heat loss of hot water 

cylinders 

• Double glazing tests to BS 5713 and 

CAN/CGSB-12.8-M90 

• Specific thermal design 

• Computer modelling of heat flows in 

buildings 

• ALF (Annual Loss Factor) method 

for optimising the thermal design of 

houses 

• Combined heat and moisture 

performance simulation of buildings 

and structures 

• Measurement of building energy 

efficiency 

• Advice on ways to meet R-value 

standards 

• R-value calculations 

• Australasian WERS calculations. 

For more information, contact 

thermaltesting@branz.co.nz. 

AWA members lead the way in developing products for bushfire areas 

With the development and introduction 

of AS3959:2009 there has been some 

significant issues with many building 

materials, windows and doors certainly 

have been one of the products with 

some issues. The new standard has 

prescriptive requirements to meet the 

different Bushfire Attack Levels for 

windows and doors, although some 

of the requirements such as external 

screens covering the whole window are 

not always practical. This can obviously 

limit the types of windows that can be 

used and may not necessarily be the 

best solution. The alternative path to 

compliance is to test products to AS 

1530.8.1. If passed by a product it means 

that the product can be used up to 

and including BAL 40, or if testing to 

AS 1530.8.2 and passed by a product, it 

means that the product can be used in 

all levels including BAL FZ. 

The Australian Window Association led 

a testing program in September 2008 

to advance industry knowledge. The 

indicative tests were performed as initial 

screening tests to aid AWA members 

in selecting specimens for future 

evaluation for meeting both prescriptive 

requirements and for testing fully to 

AS1530.8.1 and 2. 

To date there are two window 

manufacturers and one glass 

manufacturer that have tested product, 

and they are Miglas Windows, Trend 

Windows and Viridian Glass. 

Successfully tested to the new Australian 

test standard AS 1530.8.1, Miglas 

FireGuard 40 window and door product 

series achieves compliance with AS 

3959:2009, Construction of Buildings in 

Bushfire Prone Areas, without the need 

for external screens or bushfire shutters. 

Developed, designed and manufactured 

in Australia, Miglas Fireguard 40 has 

undergone rigorous testing by the Exova 

Warrington Fire testing laboratory in 

Dandenong, Victoria, to be approved for 

use on sites with a Bushfire Attack Level 

(BAL) of up to and including BAL-40. 

Miglas Fireguard 40 timber-aluminum 

composite windows and doors feature 

aluminum externally to protect from 

ignition, while internally, timber 

provides thermal insulation and stability. 

PyroGuard 40 from Australian glass 

manufacturer, Viridian, completes the 

product’s bushfire resistant status by 

providing a solid barrier against radiant 

heat transfer and embers. 

Trend Windows & Doors Pty Ltd and 

Smoke Control Pty Ltd announces 

that the Xtreme® range of Bushfire 

Window and Door products combined 

with WindowShield Fire Curtains have 

recently been assessed to full Flame 

Zone BAL FZ to comply to the highest 

level in the new Bushfire Construction 

standards (AS3959-2009 and 

AS1530.8.2 -2007). 

In a major breakthrough, the new 

system which will be called Xtreme® 

Flame Zone windows and doors System 

has been assessed by CSIRO to pass the 

standard test at the absolute extreme 

BAL FZ level. 

The System combines Trend® 

technologically advanced CSIRO tested 

BAL 40 (1530.8.1-2007) Xtreme® Window 

and Door system with Pyro-Protec® 

seals and glazing systems and standard 

5mm or 6mm toughened glass and the 

Smoke Control CSIRO tested (1530.4) 

WindowShield Fire Curtain to produce 

the Xtreme® Flame Zone Bushfire 

System. This latest development is 

a result of Trend Windows & Doors® 

ongoing intensive research and 

development and extensive testing with 

the CSIRO, aimed at developing cost 

affordable window and door systems 

which will withstand the absolute 

extremes of bushfire attack. 

The special ultra-thin transparent 

coating with Viridian PyroGuard 40 

minimises the transfer of radiant heat 

from the bushfire front through the 

glass and into the home. Even when 

subjected to radiation levels of 40kW/ 

m2, less than 3% of the radiant heat is 

transferred through a window glazed 

with PyroGuard 40. This not only 

protects combustible materials such as 

curtains and furnishing within the home, 

but also helps to provide significantly 

increased protection for occupants. 

For further information visit 

www.awa.org.au. 



Think carefully about termite protection 

When considering termite management 

options for your next residential 

construction project, it is important 

to have an understanding of the key 

features and benefits of the product 

you are going to use – after all you are 

protecting a significant asset. According 

to Ian Pegg, General Manager at FMC 

Australasia, the choice is obvious, “Insist 

on using the HomeGuard Precision 

Termite Management System. It’s 

An example of one of the many HomeGuard Barrier Systems 

currently used by most leading building 

companies across Australia because it 

works. HomeGuard is a new generation, 

proactive termite barrier that repels and 

kills termites on contact.” 

The HomeGuard range has the 

credibility of being the first ever APVMA 

registered physical barrier in Australia. 

It incorporates the leading preconstruction 

termiticide, Biflex, which 

is backed by over 20 years of Australian 

research data. 

National Sales 

Manager Chris 

Hill explains, 

“HomeGuard will 

not corrode, split or 

delaminate like other 

physical barriers 

and is built from 

materials designed 

to last the life of 

the building. The 

HomeGuard System 

is both user and 

environmentally 

friendly, is nonsensitizing 

and requires no special safety 

equipment when it is installed”. 

FMC Australasia’s innovative, tried and 

proven system blocks, repels and kills 

termites. Available in full under slab or 

perimeter cavity sheets, corners, collars, 

granules, and adhesive, HomeGuard is 

quick, easy and safe to use on a wide 

range of construction types – and won’t 

hold up trades on site. 

“For a flexible, cost-effective termite 

control solution, you won’t find better. 

We have such confidence in our product 

range that we offer home owners a 10 

year warranty* that their homes will be 

continually protected from termites”, 

says Ian. 

Australian-made HomeGuard has 

CodeMark, BCA approval and HIA 

Greensmart status. 

For more information free call 

1800 066 355 or visit 

www.homeguardptm.com.au 

* HomeGuard Warranty is limited and special terms & 

conditions must be met for it to apply. Contact FMC 

on 1800 066 355 for full details. 


New hySPAN PROJECT and hySPAN+ Structural LVL. 

Introducing the new, 

complete hySPAN® range 

- it’s all you’ll need from 

subfloor to rafters and is 

designed to improve your 

bottom line. And that 

means more money for 

those fancy fixtures and 

fittings. We all understand 

the need for a structurally 

reliable floor, but why 

spend too much on a 

subfloor you can’t see? 

The hySPAN range is 

engineered to perform 

without the expensive 

price tag. 

hySPAN PROJECT is available in 

standard sizes and also new 35mm 

thicknesses. hySPAN+ provides the 

extra performance of an F17 graded LVL. 

Because both are hySPAN, you can rely 

on consistent, predictable performance 

and long continuous lengths. As an 

extra plus, the edges of hySPAN+ have 

been arrised for safer handling on-site. 

The hySPAN range is manufactured 

from plantation timber and is available 

as FSC Chain of Custody certified (CoC) 

upon request. The range is also available 

termite protected (H2-S) and backed by 

a 25-year chemical supplier guarantee*. 

Naturally, the extended range is 

supported in the field by the CHH 

Woodproducts technical team and 

designIT® software that simplifies design 

and specification. The 

new hySPAN range is the 

natural solution for you. 

About Carter 

Holt Harvey 

Woodproducts 

Carter Holt Harvey 

Woodproducts Australia 

is the nation’s leading 

wood products business, 

producing and distributing 

a comprehensive range 

of wood-based building 

products. Leading brands 

include STRUCTAflor, 

hySPAN, LASERframe, ECOply and 

ULTRAprime mouldings. 

For further information please contact 

Carter Holt Harvey Woodproducts 

Australia on (03) 8787 4013 or visit 

www.chhwoodproducts.com.au 

* Terms and conditions apply, see 

www.chhwoodproducts.com.au/guarantees 


• 41




AFS LOGICWALL Structural Walling System – Giving builders the edge 

AFS Supplies permanent formwork 

structural walling systems ideally 

suited to the construction of all kinds 

of commercial and residential buildings 

including: 

• Multi-storey apartments 

• Hotels/motels 

• Office buildings 

• Shopping centres, 

hospitals and 

prisons. 

Recent projects in the 

ACT have seen the 

AFS Walling system 

employed with 

outstanding success 

on a variety of projects 

including: Low-rise 

aged care accommodation to high-rise 

residential construction. 

Featured projects include Oracle Stage 

1- Benjamin Way, Belconnen; Greenway 

- Athllon Drive, Greenway; Aqua 

Apartments - Giles Street, Kingston; 

Goodwin Aged Care - 

Sherbrooke, Ainsley; and 

the Allure Apartments - 

Maclean Street, Turner. 

What the industry is 

saying... 

Architect – Goodwin 

Aged Care project 

“AFS LogicWall system 

proved to be useful 

on our project as it was used as a load 

bearing wall system to replace a typical 

concrete beam/column structural 

arrangement. This meant we saved on 

costs by reducing the height between 

floors. The product seemed to be 

easily transported and moved within 

the construction site, which can be of 

benefit when lack of space is an issue. 

The product was quick and easy to erect 

and provided us with a smooth finish for 

paint application. I have no hesitation 

in recommending AFS Logicwall or 

specifying the system in future projects.” 

Builder - Oracle Stage 

1- Benjamin Way, 

Belconnen 

“Gentlemen I would 

like to take this 

opportunity to express 

my thanks for not 

only introducing 

Milin Bros to your 

Logic wall system 

but to also thank you for the way you 

have carried out the total process in 

such a professional manner on our 

three staged residential development 

in Belconnen in the ACT. Not only is 

your product cost saving, efficient and 

integral to the structure, 

the process from 

sales, shop drawings, 

delivery and after sales 

service along with any 

advice required was 

outstanding. Another 

point I would like to raise 

is that your manufacture 

and install teams are 

always only too happy 

to work at all times to 

our program and willing to put in the 

extra effort to help the builder reach his 

milestones. Once again thank you for a 

first class product and look forward to 

stage 2 and 3 of 500 apartments.” 

Engineer - Oracle Stage 1- Benjamin 

Way, Belconnen 

“Our company provided structural 

design services for the Oracle Residential 

Project at Belconnen, ACT. During the 

structural design, it was clear that the 

project leant itself primarily to a load 

bearing wall system. Several options 

were canvassed in consultation with the 

client, the architect and the builder to 

determine the optimum overall solution. 

AFS was chosen as the load bearing 

wall system by all parties for its off-site 

fabrication, ease of installation, and the 

fact that the wall remains as an in situ 

concrete wall as opposed to jointed 

precast walls. We have suggested AFS 

walls to other clients, who are now using 

them on other projects with similar 

success.” 

For more information on your building 

requirements contact AFS Products 

Group on 1300 727 237 or email 

sales@afswall.com.au 

RAWLINSONS CONSTRUCTION COST BOOKS, 2010 

The year 2010, sees the publication 

of edition 28 of the 950-page 

reference book, Rawlinsons Australian 

Construction Handbook, which was 

formulated to provide a comprehensive 

and detailed building cost reference 

directed mainly at medium/larger sized 

projects and embracing all sections 

of the building industry. Containing 

essential construction cost information 

for all Australian capital cities, it includes 

Price and Regional Indices; Building Costs 

Per Square Metre; Elemental Costs of 

Buildings; Comparative Costs; Detailed 

Prices - with unit prices for all trades and 

services; Refurbishing and Recycling of 

Buildings. Other sections include Labour 

and Plant Constants; Building Planning, 

Administration and Management; Rental 

Review; International Construction Costs. 

Rawlinsons is committed to providing 

optimum outcomes for your projects 

by supplying current and reliable 

cost information that is necessary to 

effectively implement cost control, cost 

management and cost benefit studies at 

all stages of planning and construction. 

Such has been the impact of Rawlinsons 

on the construction industry that it is 

often referred to as the bible because of 

the wealth of information it contains. 

A later addition to our stable and now in 

its 18th edition, Rawlinsons Construction 

Cost Guide, has been specifically 

compiled for small commercial and 

domestic projects and is presented in an 

easy-to-use and comprehensive format, 

This book of 275 pages is well suited 

for the smaller builder, developer, subcontractor, 

etc. 

For all your construction projects, 

whether large or small, Rawlinsons has 

the book which will best suit your needs. 


Smartbreeze - the green solution for heating and cooling a building 

Heating and cooling a building can 

be a costly exercise particularly with 

increasing running cost and the ongoing 

impact on the environment using 

traditional methods. 

The latest innovation in heating and 

cooling using total solar energy has 

been introduced by Smart Roof Australia 

Pty Ltd and has been influential in 

providing a clean environmental 

solution with minimal cost to various 

buildings throughout Victoria. 

The award winning product 

smartbreeze, Australian designed and 

manufactured uses the roof, whether 

metal or tile, as a collector of air and 

moves the air to assist either heating or 

cooling a building. 

On a hot day there is a significant build 

up of radiant heat directly under the 

metal roof sheets or tiles. This hot air 

is dormant and creates a significant 

heat bank which filters into and heats 

a building. The smartbreeze unit 

minimizes this build up of heat by 

continually purging the hot 

air from the roof on a hot day. 

After a hot day, smartbreeze 

is able to provide nocturnal 

cooling throughout the 

night. When the cooler 

night air is needed to cool 

a building after a hot day, 

smartbreeze will continually 

blow this fresh cool air into 

the building to significantly 

reduce the heat build up 

that is absorbed in the walls 

and furniture and provide a 

cooler environment for the 

start of the next day. 

On a cool day there can be a significant 

heat build up due to the radiant heart 

on the roof. Smartbreeze will filter this 

warm air and re-direct into the building 

to provide fresh warm air on a cool day 

for heating. 

The movement of air and monitoring 

of temperatures is all thermostatically 

controlled day and night. Power is 

provided by a 30w solar panel. 

Smartbreeze can be adapted for 

larger volume areas whereby a greater 

capacity for heating and cooling in 

addition to cross ventilation is required. 

For more information on smartbreeze, 

please view the website www.smartroof. 

com.au or call Smart Roof Australia Pty 

Ltd on 03 95103484. 


Standards Australia moves to tighten steel specifications in response to Industry concerns 

Standards Australia have just released 

a new revision of AS/NZS 1163 on 

Structural Steel Hollow Sections. These 

revisions were triggered by industry and 

asset owner concerns on compliance 

of specified tubular products. The 

Australian Steel Institute (ASI) is also 

aware of situations of inferior or nonspecified 

product substitution for 

critical applications resulting in product 

qualities not being commensurate with 

AS/NZS 1163 expectations. 

These issues are not isolated to Pipe and 

Tube and are also relevant to other steel 

and construction materials. 

Revised welded steel hollow 

sections specification released 

by Standards Australia 

This Standard specifies the requirements 

for cold-formed, electric resistancewelded, 

carbon steel hollow sections 

suitable for welding and used for 

structural purposes. 

Products compliant with AS/NZS 1163, 

which is referenced via the steel design, 

fabrication and erection Standards listed 

in the BCA, are used in many and various 

building construction applications. 

These include structural columns/posts, 

beams, ties, trusses, flooring systems, 

awnings, lintels, etc. 

The major changes to the Standard 

include: 

• In Australia, the mandatory individual 

length identification required on all 

ex-mill tube lengths 

• Mandatory minimum information 

required on test certificates 

• Mandatory requirement for testing 

to be performed by third-party 

accredited laboratories (e.g. NATA) 

• Mandatory ‘Product Conformity’ 

provisions to demonstrate 

compliance with the Standard by the 

manufacturer/supplier 

• Additional provisions on steelmaking, 

coil feed, chemistry, mechanical 

properties and tolerances. 

The revisions to the Standard 

provide further confidence in 

product conformance of tubular 

products to AS/NZS 1163. 

The tubular product range and coatings 

offered by suppliers to the Standard 

have not changed. 

The new edition of AS/NZS 1163 was 

published and became effective on 9 

December 2009 with the previous 1991 

version remaining available superseded 

till its withdrawal one year later. 

The ASI strongly urges building 

construction project delivery 

participants to specify and order AS/ 

NZS 1163-2009 product to get the 

confidence that new standard provides 

in mandating that the construction is in 

line with intended design. 

For further information contact the ASI 

on (02) 9931 6612. 

Copies of AS/NZS 1163 can be purchased 

from SAI Global (www.infostore. 

saiglobal.com). 


• 43

CONFErENCE + Events Calendar 

CONFErENCE AND EvENTS 

CALENDAr FOr 2010 

MARCH 2010 

18 – 19 March ACEA Conference, Sydney. www.acea.com.au 

25 March BCA Information Seminars, Canberra. www.abcb.gov.au 

25 March AIRAH Section J Workshop, Canberra. www.airah.org.au 

31 March – 1 April BCA Information Seminars, Sydney. www.abcb.gov.au 

31 March AIRAH Section J Workshop, Sydney. www.airah.org.au 

APRIL 2010 

12 – 14 April 9th IIR Gustav Lorentzen Conference on natural refrigerants – real alternatives, Sydney. 

www.airah.org.au 

13 – 14 April BCA Information Seminars, Brisbane. www.abcb.gov.au 

13 April AIRAH Section J Workshop, Brisbane. www.airah.org.au 

16 April BCA Information Seminars, Darwin. www.abcb.gov.au 

20 April BCA Information Seminars, Adelaide. www.abcb.gov.au 

20 April AIRAH Section J Workshop, Adelaide. www.airah.org.au 

20 – 23 April International Planning Conference, Christchurch, NZ. www.planning.org.au 

22 – 23 April BCA Information Seminars, Perth. www.abcb.gov.au 

22 – 24 April Form and Function, Sydney. www.formandfunction.com.au 

22 April AIRAH Section J Workshop, Perth. www.airah.org.au 

27 April BCA Information Seminars, Hobart. www.abcb.gov.au 

27 April AIRAH Section J Workshop, Hobart. www.airah.org.au 

28 – 30 April ACCA 2010 CDP Conference, Tweed Heads. www.access.asn.au/conferences_and_events 

29 – 30 April BCA Information Seminars, Melbourne. www.abcb.gov.au 

29 April AIRAH Section J Workshop, Melbourne. www.airah.org.au 


3311_ABRB_Spring09_v8.indd 1 

REGISTER NOW 

www.abcb.gov.au 

18/8/09 11:43:24 AM 

 

Bulletin (ABR) now provides you with the 

opportunity to advertise your business, 

 

 

and Builders who are at the cutting edge of the 

 

ABRB readership and distribution is continuing 

 

also provided free of charge via the Australian Building 

Codes Board’s (ABCB) web site, as well as being distributed 

 

 

 

 

 

available through the distribution and readership 

 

 

and booking details can all be provided 

 

 

 

 

Present YOUR business 

to 45,000+ people within 

the construction 

industry! 

 

 

 

Building for the Energy Efficient Future 

Latest Developments in South Australia’s Planning System 

Compliance: Buyer Beware - Reduce the Risk and be Confident 

that Building Products meet their Performance Claims 

The Green Building Fund - the second year.... 

 

 

 

 

Digital TV switch over in buildings 

A sustainable built environment–a Singapore perspective 

Industry perspective–HIA: Measuring the cost of Regulation 

Improving NSW Planning 

 

CONFERENCE + EVENT CALENDAR 

✁ 

Feedback 

helping the ABCB help you 

This magazine is the primary information support element of your subscription to the Building 

Code of Australia (BCA). Please take a few minutes to provide us with your feedback on this 

edition to assist the ABCB in ensuring that your Bulletin remains relevant. 

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• 45

Save money for the 

things you can see. 

Introducing the new, complete hySPAN ® range. It’s all you’ll need from 

subfloor to rafters. Specifying hySPAN PROJECT or hySPAN+ can improve your 

bottom line. (And that means more money for those fancy fixtures and fittings.) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New, 

complete 

hySPAN 

solutions 

range 

iezzi E721/4 ABRB

BCA 2010 - ABCB - Australian Building Codes Board

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