Victorian Government Notifies New Building Regulations 2018
Wednesday 28 March 2018 @ 10.36 a.m. | Legal Research
Yesterday, 27 March 2018, the Victorian Government released the Building Regulations 2018 (Vic) (the “Regulations”). These regulations, set to commence on 2 June 2018, are the culmination of the sunset review of the Building Regulations 2006 (Vic) (the “2006 Regulations) which ended in 2017. The new Regulations remake the 2006 regulations with various amendments, while repealing the Building Interim Regulations 2017 (Vic) and other amending regulations from 2017.
The objectives of the Regulations are outlined in regulation 1:
The objectives of these Regulations are—
- to remake with amendments the regulations which control the design, construction and use of buildings and places of public entertainment; and
- to prescribe standards for the construction and demolition of buildings; and
- to prescribe standards of safety for places of public entertainment; and
- to regulate matters relating to the use and maintenance of buildings and places of public entertainment; and
- to prescribe requirements for the design and siting of single dwellings and associated buildings; and
- to prescribe standards and matters relating to the maintenance of fire safety and safety measures; and
- to prescribe requirements for swimming pool and spa safety; and
- to provide for matters relating to the accreditation of building products, construction methods, designs, components and systems connected with building work; and
- to prescribe qualifications and provide for other matters relating to registration of building practitioners; and
- to prescribe fees in relation to matters before the Building Appeals Board, the Authority and the Building Regulations Advisory Committee; and
- to provide for other matters for the purposes of the Building Act 1993.
The Sunset Review
Under the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (Vic), all regulations have a sunset (or expiry) date, generally 10 years from the date of making. This is in place to ensure that all regulations are reviewed on a regular basis. The Minister is then required to ensure that a consultation occurs before remaking the legislation.
Initial consultations for the sunset review of the 2006 Act were made in 2014. Consultation on the Regulatory Impact Statement and the proposed regulations commenced on 18 May 2017, and finished on 18 July 2017.
The key changes proposed by the regulations were outlined on page 1 of the draft explanatory materials entitled Building Regulations review: Strengthened Regulations:
- Improve reporting by a relevant building surveyor (RBS) to the Victorian Building Authority (VBA)
- Require a RBS to inform the owner and builder a building permit is about to lapse
- Require a RBS to provide more information with a protection work notice
- Introduce new requirements for swimming pool and spa barriers
- Add three extra mandatory notification stages
The 2018 Regulations
The reviewed Regulations, which commence on 2 June 2018, provide a comprehensive system for Building requirements in Victoria. These include:
- Provisions for the making of the Building Code Australia (Part 2), which under regulation 10, “is adopted by and forms part of these” Regulations
- Provisions for owner-builders (Part 3), including applications and granting of certificates “of consent to carry out domestic building work on land” (s 14)
- Requirement of building permits (Part 4) for all building projects, with the exemptions of building work listed in schedule 2
- Siting (Part 5)
- Projections beyond street alignment (Part 6), whereby, under section 98, "except where otherwise provided in this Part, a building must not project beyond the street alignment"
- Protection of adjoining property and the public (Part 7)
- Building work (Part 8), which includes methods of assessment and compliance (Division 1)
- Safety requirements for building work (Part 9), with safety requirements for barriers for swimming pools and spas (Division 1) as well as fire safety (Division 3)
- Designation of special areas for building work (Part 10)
- Bushfire safety (Part 11)
- Inspections, notices and orders, and register of powers of entry (Part 12)
- Occupancy permits and certificates of final inspection (Part 13)
- Places of public entertainment (Part 14)
- Maintenance of buildings and places of public entertainment (Part 15)
- Existing buildings (Part 16)
- Building product accreditation (Part 17)
- Building practitioners (Part 18)
- Appeals and reviews (Part 19)
- Infringement notices (Part 20)
- Exemptions (Part 21)
- Transitional and savings provisions (Part 22)
- Revocation of temporary fees (Part 23)
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Sources:
Building Regulations 2018, available on TimeBase's LawOne service.
Building Regulations 2006, available on TimeBase's LawOne service.
