First glimpse of NCC 2022

The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) has released the first stage of the National Construction Code (NCC) 2022 preview to familiarise stakeholders with the major changes.

The first stage of the release contains most of the amendments finalised for NCC 2022, including:

• New livable housing features to assist people with disability and through more stages of life for others
• An improved volume and clause structure within the NCC itself to improve consistency and usability, including a new ABCB Housing Provisions Standard
• New lead-free requirements for plumbing products to improve the quality and safety of drinking water
• New fire safety provisions for early childhood centres and primary schools in multi-storey buildings
• New bushfire protection measures in Class 9 buildings
• A range of improvements to the fire safety, weatherproofing, and waterproofing requirements.

The energy efficiency and condensation management provisions, however, are yet to be included. These are still being finalised and will be included in the second stage release, scheduled for August 2022.

The adoption of NCC 2022 has been set for September 1, 2022. Each state and territory will bring it into effect in their own time and manner using their own regulatory regimes. They may choose to expand, remove or vary the NCC.

“We acknowledge the significant amount of change associated with NCC 2022,” says the ABCB, “particularly with key changes like the introduction of the new livable housing requirements, and the new residential energy efficiency and condensation mitigation requirements.

“The ABCB is working with all governments on a coordinated transition plan, to explain when each of these changes will be made mandatory under state and territory legislation. We expect to provide further advice on transition periods in August 2022.”

For more information and to read the NCC 2022 Stage 1 Preview, click here.

Photo by R ARCHITECTURE on Unsplash