By James Deters, Director
NCC2022 – Stage 1 of the Preview has been released, Stage 2 will be available in August
As everyone is likely aware, the 2022 update to the National Construction Code has been delayed. NCC2022 will come into force on 1 September 2022, meaning, for those of us in NSW, if you apply for a Construction Certificate or Complying Development Certificate after 1 September this year NCC2022 will apply.
For those of us involved in the design of buildings, we are already allowing for NCC2022 in the planning and design of future structures.
There is a small complication with that however, being that the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) has only released a partial preview of NCC2022. The currently available preview covers updates in all three volumes of the NCC, but excludes the proposed updates in relation to additional Energy Efficiency (Section J in NCC Volume 1) measures, additional requirements for condensation management, State and Territory variations and advice on transitional periods.
The excluded updates will be made available in August 2022 in a “Stage 2” preview, less than a month from application. This will obviously impact work that is being designed now, but unfortunately this is just how the cookie crumbles this time around. Our ESD team is working with the public comment draft of the NCC that was released mid-last year as a guide, but the slated changes in that document are in no way set in concrete (pun intended).
What of the changes that we know about? These are some big ticket items, such as:
- The renumbering of the provisions of the NCC – this will take a while to get used to, but there are some tricks to make this transition easier;
- Livable housing requirements to Class 1a and Class 2 dwellings – this will impact on bathroom layouts, hallway and door widths, etc;
- DtS provisions for the weatherproofing of external walls, where previously a Performance Solution was the only option – given the limited DtS options, many buildings will still require a Performance Solution for the weatherproofing of external walls;
- Falls to floor wastes to be in the substrate – this is a big step in the right direction to reduce waterproofing issues, but needs to be thought about at the outset of the design as it will require documenting how this is achieved; and
- Updates to Australian Standard references.
I do note that some of the changes we know about may get altered as a part of a State or Territory variation in August when the Stage 2 preview is released.
For more detail on the changes, including access to our definitive list of the changes please contact us at info@credwell.com.au or call on (02) 9281 8555.