Comments open on national registration framework

The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) has released a draft National Registration Framework for Building Practitioners for public comment.

This follows up on the Building Confidence report, which signalled the need for the registration of building practitioners involved in the design, construction and maintenance of buildings.

Accordingly, the ABCB has released a discussion paper that puts forward a draft National Registration Framework (NRF). The NRF will include a specific registration scheme for engineers, as well as schemes for other professions.

At the moment, professional registration schemes for engineers vary across the country, and some states – such as New South Wales and Victoria – are in the process of implementing new schemes. The ABCB indicates that the NRF has been informed by this work and by feedback from state and territory regulators, and accommodates these reforms where possible.

“Each state and territory has existing registration schemes that cover some or all of the core disciplines but the changes needed to implement the NRF will vary significantly,” the paper notes.

“The immediate goal … is to help jurisdictions fill in the gaps in their registration schemes and to include NCC training in accredited qualifications. The medium-term goal is to make the registration schemes nationally consistent to improve mutual recognition between the states and territories. Nationally consistent registration disciplines, qualifications and experience are a necessary pre-requisite to establishing a national registration scheme or ‘driver’s licence’ model requested by many industry associations.”

The paper lists the qualifications and experience that would be required for each profession within the framework. The list includes mechanical professional engineering design, energy efficiency design, façade design, and fire safety design. Some construction work, such as fire systems installation and plumbing, is also included.

Comments on the discussion paper are open until August 23, 2020. To access the discussion paper and submit comments, click here.