BCA 2010 - ABCB - Australian Building Codes Board

BCA & INDUSTRY NEWS
BPIC MAINTAINING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
BCA & INDUSTRY NEWS
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
4 • Australian Building Regulation Bulletin