Education, targeted and proactive enforcement and ongoing implementation of building reform initiatives are key priorities for the new building boss in New South Wales.

(image source: Building Commission NSW)

During an interview conducted last week, NSW Building Commissioner James Sherrard spoke with Sourceable about his new role and the strategies which Building Commission NSW will adopt in 2025.

Sherrard took over as NSW Building Commissioner last month following the retirement of former Commissioner David Chandler, who led an extensive program of building industry reform across the state.

Whilst reform remains ongoing, Sherrard says that much of the focus will involve continuing to implement existing reform initiatives.

“As you point out, David and the team really initiated a lot of reform,” Sherrard said, when asked about taking on his new role following Chandler’s retirement.

“And it’s taken them some time to get that instilled. So in actual fact, I think we’re at a point where an amount of that reform is sort of instilled, but it needs to now be acted upon. And so it needs to be carried through with its intended purpose.

“That’s not to say that all the reforms work has been complete. We’ve got a number of reforms on the go that were commenced but are (currently) in train.

“So the building bill reform would be an example of that where it’s been initiated to try and harmonise a number of different bills and to simplify the system. (Currently being drafted, the Building Bill NSW 2024 aims to consolidate nine existing pieces of building related legislation into a single Act.) I’m the big supporter of that, so I’ll be working hard to try and get that across the line.

“But that’s got a way to go before implementation.

“There is a tremendous opportunity to improve the quality of residential construction in Australia. I think we are actually still reasonably young in the growth and development of a lot of areas of engineering, construction and design. And we are also facing: large technological advancements, demand for output, and multiculturalism and the benefits and challenges that this brings. And so I actually think that the Building Commission has a really important part to play in bringing that together and advancing the cause of quality in construction.

“I have long desired better outcomes in the construction industry that I have been a part of for more than 30 years. And this is an opportunity in this role to really influence positive advancement.”

As mentioned above, Sherrard’s comments come as he assumed role of Building Commissioner last month following Chandler’s retirement last year.

Prior to his appointment, Sherrard spent almost three years as the Head of Commercial, Performance and Strategy at Transport for NSW, during which time he led a 900-strong team which included commercial, project performance, procurement and property and analytics.

Prior to this, he has served as the national lead partner of the infrastructure and urban renewal team and capital projects practice at PwC Australia and as a senior director of the Asia Pacific Project Management and Infrastructure Advisory business at Savills Project Management.

His commencement comes as New South Wales has undertaken a massive program of building industry reform over the past five years.

Spearheaded by Chandler, the reform program has involved major legislative overhaul, a new developer rating scheme, improved education and training, better contracting, greater uptake and use of digital tools and use of data and research to inform evidence-based approaches to building regulation.

The reform efforts led to the creation of Building Commission NSW in 2023 with its own dedicated resources and specific focus on the building sector.

As mentioned above, a bill to consolidate nine pieces of building legislation into a single Act is currently in draft form.

(Headshot of James Sherrard provided by Building Commission NSW)

Current Strengths and Weaknesses

Asked about strengths and weaknesses in current building practice, Sherrard highlights two areas.

First, he says there are a considerable number of builders particularly in Class 1 buildings (detached houses) who are trying to do the right thing, but who lack critical knowledge and education about how to do things properly.

To help combat this, the Commission is undertaking several measures.

These include working to achieve cheaper and easier access to Australian standards; working with TAFEs and other education institutions to develop education programs that focus on specific problem areas such as waterproofing; and having inspectors take time to educate practitioners about areas where mistakes are occurring when undertaking inspections.

Sherrard also describes a tendency on the part of some builders to ‘crack on with’ particular tasks without adequately consulting approval documentation or manufacturing installation instructions.

This could lead to construction not being done in a manner that accords to a specific engineering arrangement that has been approved or installation not being performed in the correct manner.

To combat this, the Commission is working with TAFE to incorporate an awareness of industry economics into their courses. A particular focus is raising awareness about the time and costs which are associated with rework and how taking time to consult relevant documentation can improve profit margins by avoiding the need for rectification work.

Clarifying misunderstandings about the Commission

Asked about areas where there may be misunderstandings or misconceptions about the Commission and its work, Sherrard nominates three matters.

First, there can be a misconception that the Commission’s work is focused on buildings which fall under the Class 2 classification in the National Construction Code (multi-storey apartment complexes).

Whilst much of the reform process was initially focused on these types of buildings, the Commission is also undertaking work in terms of Class 1 buildings (detached homes and detached dwellings) and other buildings such as aged care facilities.

He points out that many future Class 2 building practitioners will originate out of the Class 1 workforce. Getting things right in Class 1 will therefore help to establish a positive foundation when builders move into Class 2 construction.

Next, Sherrard says that the effectiveness of the Commission’s intelligence and the way in which it draws upon varying sources of information to conduct inspections in a targeted manner is often not fully understood.

Whilst ‘anytime anywhere’ inspections continue to form part of the Commission’s work, Sherrard says that the Commission in fact uses a number of data sources to identify buildings which may be of high risk of having serious defects in order to focus greater inspection effort on these projects. (As an example, greater risk may be attached to projects that involve practitioners who have been subject to significant complaints or past disciplinary action.)

Potentially, this could lead to alarm in cases where people try to compare the number of defects which are uncovered during the Commission’s inspections with the overall number of buildings that it inspects. It needs to be remembered, Sherrard says, that the Commission is particularly targeting high risk buildings. It is therefore expected that high numbers of serious defects will be uncovered when the Commission undertakes its targeted inspections.

Finally, there can be a perception that the Commission’s enforcement options are restricted to fines, prosecutions and licence cancellation/suspension.

Whilst these are important, Sherrard says that the Commission has flexibility in terms of the type of actions which it can pursue. Indeed, one measure which has been effective has been to compel people to undertake training in areas where mistakes have been made.

New and Ongoing Initiatives

Moving into 2025, Sherrard highlights several areas of focus for the regulator.

These include:

• supporting the aforementioned Building Bill to consolidate nine pieces of building legislation into a signal Act.
• raising consumer education and awareness through development of simple messaging (see below)
• working with other organisations to achieve easier and less costly access to Australian standards
• ongoing efforts regarding compliance and enforcement
• assisting with delivering upon state targets for new housing delivery
• balancing disciplinary action with greater industry engagement
• supporting further education, including through collaboration with TAFE and other organisations to develop education programs to address problematic areas such as waterproofing and incorporating awareness of economic considerations such as benefits of avoiding rework into TAFE courses as referred to above; and
• setting clear expectations of what good looks like, including highlight examples of particularly good work in addition to calling out unsatisfactory work.

During the interview, Sherrard highlighted two areas of particular opportunity.

First, there is consumer education and awareness.

On this score, Sherrard says that many consumers do not make adequately informed decisions when engaging contractors and consultants. This is understandable as many people undertake such activities only once in their lives.

He says that simple measures can help. Searches on Google or the Commission’s website, for example, can yield insights about prospective contractors or other practitioners.

In response, the Commission is developing short and simple messaging (approx. 2 minutes).  One such message, for example, might prompt consumers to ‘do these three things’ before engaging a contractor.

As well as being published on the Commission’s own web site, the Commission is collaborating with councils so that consumers will be prompted with the messaging upon applying for development applications or Complying Development Certificates.

Another area is targeted and proactive compliance and enforcement.

On this score, the Commission remains focused on maintaining a continuing and effective program of prosecutions to deter unsatisfactory or unscrupulous operators.

Toward this end, the Commission will be leveraging its intelligence capacity to more accurately target those projects and/or practitioners who represent significant levels of quality, safety or compliance risk as mentioned above. Sherrard expects the effectiveness of this to increase over time as the number of data and source points continues to grow.

The objective is to demonstrate throughout the industry that the Commission is taking a proactive and targeted approach toward those who fail to deliver acceptable outcomes.

Asked about critical factors that will determine the Commission’s success or otherwise, Sherrard says that awareness of prosecution success will be critical as well as education and highlighting positive work.

“I think an awareness of our prosecution success and an awareness by contractors of our capacity to identify poor performers will be advantageous,” he said.

“If people realise that there is a very high likelihood that they’re going to be found out for poor quality work, then perhaps they will choose a different industry or they will do good quality work.

“I think that’s part of it. The other part is obviously education and representing what good looks like.”

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