Recently in Australia, there has been commentary that changes to the National Construction Code could be held in abeyance for an extended period of time. In this article, Neil Savery, Managing Director for ICC Oceania, makes the case for why building codes need to be regularly maintained.

Buildings can, of course, be constructed without codes and standards. However, should they be?

The debate in some quarters that building codes should be relaxed or held in hiatus for an extended period of time because they increase costs and stifle progress understandably resonates in an environment where the affordability of a home is a real concern. However, such a view fails to consider why codes came to exist in the first place, and why they are a common feature in the international construction sector.

What we have learned through history is that building codes provide important guardrails against unethical behaviour, unsafe practices, and a cost-driven race to the bottom in terms of quality. The consequence of these is compromised building safety and building defects, the costs of which are both financial and human.

Benchmarks and rules enshrine what governments and societies regard as a minimum standard of safety and quality. Non-existent or outdated benchmarks and rules leave jurisdictions with no way to determine if a reasonable minimum standard has been achieved.

We must ensure that consumers are not left with less than they bargained for. There are regrettably several recent examples of structural failures and fires which highlight the health and safety ramifications of non-compliant building work. As we know from various enquiries, these incidents point to broader if less high profile issues.

The Australian Government, in conjunction with states and territories, is currently undertaking a significant home building program in order to address housing market cost pressures and help more Australians into their first home. In this context, it is clear why arguments for examining the role of the National Construction Code (NCC) have surfaced. It is also timely to ensure that in seeking quantity we don’t lose sight of quality.

Compliance is key

Building codes provide governments with a key tool to enforce compliance with minimum safeguards. This demands currency, as codes are not mere administrative regulations, but are highly technical and grounded in the realities of construction science. Their enforcement directly impacts the functionality and safety of the built environment.

In an industry where price can often lead to adverse outcomes, enforcement of standards is crucial for levelling the playing field. It rewards those who do the right thing by ensuring bad actors are subject to compliance action. However, this can only be effective if codes and standards remain contemporary.

Compliance needs to occur throughout the supply chain given the diversity of actors involved. This hinges on a number of factors, including education and training, practitioner competencies, access to and awareness of the codes and standards, improving stakeholders’ understanding of their purpose, adequately resourced regulators and collaboration with industry.

In a federation with a nationally adopted building and plumbing code, there is also an interdependence with the consistent application of the codes and standards, as the workforce and contractors are mobile, and product suppliers operate at a national level.

Adaptive and innovative

Building is not a static science, and techniques, products and client expectations are constantly evolving. An unchanging NCC risks becoming irrelevant to today’s challenges or tomorrow’s innovations.

A performance-based NCC is important to enable flexibility, adaptability to societal needs over time, and space for innovation to occur between code editions. In order to ensure it is not a hinderance, the NCC must also be monitored constantly and amendable within a reasonable timeframe, as with any good regulation.

For example, the future development and standardisation of resilient buildings to extreme weather events depends on a code development process that is robust and transparent, but that can also respond in a timely manner given the latency of buildings once constructed.

To help address issues of affordability, the provisions of the NCC need to be cost effective (which needs to be taken into consideration over the design life of a building), workable and accompanied by appropriate transition periods for industry to learn and adjust established practices.

Productivity benefits

In an industry often criticised for its lack of productivity, a nationally consistent code offers substantial productivity gains. It eliminates the complexity of navigating multiple, region-specific standards, streamlines material and product demand forecasting for suppliers, reduces the likelihood of costly rework by ensuring consistent quality and safety standards, and fosters innovation by providing a unified framework.

Consistent and appropriately sequenced building code updates not only provide convenience, but a competitive edge to industry. As such, negating development of the NCC for an extended period of time, incapacitating the ability for this to be done in a nationally consistent manner, or adopting piecemeal building standards amongst the jurisdictions, risks losing these productivity gains.

It is also important to highlight that the industry is the most active stakeholder in seeking amendments to the NCC as practices evolve, innovations occur, redundancies emerge, or a need for clarification is identified. This points to why the NCC and its referenced standards are such an enduring feature of the national construction landscape.

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