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Bushfire Safety Regulations

September 2009

Bushfire safety is more crucial than ever to your planning

The building industry is still on a learning curve when it comes to the impact of new bushfire safety legislation. Many areas of the legislation remain open to interpretation and opinion. The main area that is of particular concern to planning and building is that of BAL (Bushfire Attack Level). It is essential that you are up to date with how these new regulations may affect your planning and building process.

 

KWA has put bushfire safety regulations at the top of our priority list

To stay ahead of the pack and provide the best and most accurate information possible to you, KWA staff have been busy attending workshops and reading through the legislation. The results boil down to one simple imperative:

We cannot emphasize strongly enough the importance of obtaining a BAL assessment prior to commencing design work of any kind.

  

Bushfire safety can get costly on many fronts

Obviously the main thing to get right when it comes to bushfire safety is the protection of your property, home and family. The costs of losing a property to bushfire are something none of us want to face.

The next most pressing cost is your time and money if you fail to achieve correct compliance at the right stage in design.Depending on where you are planning on building and whether it is a designated flame zone, you may face substantial compliance costs.

 

Save yourself time, money and worry and get a full BAL assessment

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions at all regarding BAL assessments or any aspect of bushfire safety regulations.

 

Window glazing requirements

There are now three groups of legislation you need to consider when it comes to minimum window glazing requirements:

  • Bushfire Attack Level
  • Glass Code AS1288
  • Energy Efficiency

In each case the most onerous of the three requirements will apply.

 

Building Code of Australia 2009

The BCA 2009 was implemented on 1st May 2009. Fortunately there were no major changes. But minor amendments are still important to be aware of and they include:

  • Revisions to wire balustrade tables (some tension increases and a few more wire alternatives)
  • The implementation of the Energy Efficiency Program now to be a minimum Firstrate of Version 4.05 or later, NatHERS Version 2.32A or later and BERS Version 3.2 or later.
  • Introduction of balustrade to retaining walls greater than 1.0m high where they form part of the path to and from the building.

And, as a heads up for 2010 – it looks like next year will see the introduction of minimum 6 star energy efficiency rating for all new buildings.

 

Designated Land or Works

This is a new term which replaces Designated Uncontrolled Drainage. It addresses areas with poor drainage i.e. existing drainage systems which cannot cope due to development of an area.

 

You may need to check with your local council

If you are building on property that is in a designated land, council will dictate the minimum height of your floor level. They will issue you a Report and Consent to allow you to build at that level. It is important to be aware of this change as the MPSC have declared a lot of areas as designated land which previously were not. Designated land is in addition to Town Planning controls and designated flood prone areas.

 

Visit our website for more advice

Property investigation is critical to successful design and minimal delays during the permit process. For assistance, click on applications, then Request for Property information.

 

Builders Warranty insurers withdraw

If you have not already been advised, CGU Insurance and Lumley General Insurance will no longer be providing builders with their warranty insurance, effective from later this year.

 

Contact your insurance company for more details

If either of these companies provides your insurance you need to contact them immediately. We don't want to see a repeat of the last insurance debacle, where a building permit cannot be issued until the warranty insurance can be supplied.

 

September newsletter summary

If you have any questions at all about:

  • Bushfire safety regulations and Bushfire Attack Level assessment
  • BCA2009
  • Designated land
  • Builders warranty insurance

Please contact us at KWA. We're always happy to help and look forward to hearing from you.