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ABCB Newsletter October 2025

The ABCB has had a busy month in the lead up to the Building Ministers meeting which took place on 22 October. Building Ministers met to discuss NCC 2025 timing and content and agreed to streamline the National Construction Code (NCC).

Ministers agreed NCC 2025 will be published by 1 February 2026, with adoption possible from 1 May 2026. Key updates will include water management and carpark fire safety provisions in commercial and apartment buildings, commercial energy efficiency (including mandatory solar photovoltaic systems), and condensation mitigation. The 7-star energy efficiency requirements from NCC 2022 will remain.

Building Ministers also endorsed modernising the NCC, including considering how to streamline processes and reduce regulatory burden, and exploring AI to improve usability.

Board appointments were also confirmed at the Building Ministers Meeting. Glenys Beauchamp’s term as ABCB Chair has been extended, and Penny Cornah has been reappointed as the plumbing industry representative.

We look forward to continuing our work with the Board as we deliver the NCC and other valuable projects.

Our Climate Map includes a range of features designed to help you make informed decisions with greater ease and confidence.

Some of these features include:

• Advanced search capabilities that allow you to search by address, suburb or postcode to identify which NCC climate zone it is in.
• Filters – find locations by climate-related criteria.

NCC clarification: Manual controls for power-operated hinged doors in NCC 2022 (Amendment 2)

There is an inconsistency between the location requirements for manual controls for power-operated hinged doors in NCC 2022 (Amendment 2) and ‘AS 1428.1:2021 Design for access and mobility’ (AS 1428.1:2021).

Our NCC clarification: Manual controls for power-operated hinged doors in NCC 2022 (Amendment 2) article clarifies which requirements apply and why.

In most cases, the NCC overrules any difference between the NCC and a referenced document (see A4G2). In this instance, the requirements of AS 1428.1:2021 prevail because they are referenced in the Access Code for Buildings (Access Code) made under Commonwealth law.

Unconventional elegance meets precision engineering

The newest addition to Brisbane’s bridge-building blitz combines innovative engineering with visual splendour.

Brisbane’s latest river crossing exemplifies some seriously innovative approaches to construction and assembly.

By Lachlan Haycock and Heath Dunn

Built as part of Brisbane City Council’s Bridges for Brisbane Program, the Kangaroo Point Bridge is an active transport bridge designed to reduce 84,000 car trips across the river annually, as part of an overall transportation mode shift that’s also seen the introduction of the Brisbane Metro system. The bridge has already seen more than two million people use it since opening in December 2024.

Delivered by BESIX WatPac who led the Connect Brisbane consortium including WSP as lead engineering and design consultant, the bridge has already seen more than three million people use it since opening in December 2024.

Following its win at the Queensland engineering Excellence awards in September, Kangaroo Point Bridge is now in the running to take out national honours at the Engineers Australia Excellence Awards to be held in Sydney in November.

Fastening standards that uplift the safety of the construction industry

From anchors to nailplates, Australia now uses test-based evaluation, clear design rules and installer guidance to close the weakest-link gap.

By uniting research, regulation and guidance, Australia raised the bar on fastenings and connections across concrete and timber.

Boston’s Central Artery/Tunnel Project, known as the “Big Dig”, was the largest and most technically challenging highway project in US history. Built beneath the city’s historic core, it surpassed the Panama Canal, Hoover Dam and Alaska Pipeline in scale.

But on 10 July 2006, a portion of the Big Dig’s concrete ceiling assembly gave way, sending multi-ton panels onto the roadway and killing a motorist. Six years later, in Japan’s Sasago Tunnel, around 140 m of ceiling panels collapsed, crushing vehicles and igniting fires.

In both cases, the failure of seemingly minor components – fasteners – was at fault, said Associate Professor Jessey Lee, Deputy Chair of the Department of Civil and Construction Engineering at Swinburne University of Technology.

“Fasteners don’t get much attention,” she said. “But when they fail, people can be killed or injured.”

What will Australia’s power grid look like in 2040?

Engineers are redesigning Australia’s power systems for a resilient, low-emissions future.

A changing climate, retiring coal plants and rising renewables are forcing a major redesign of the electricity grid. At every level, engineers are leading the transition to a more resilient system.

Australia’s power grid is being pulled in every direction. Coal is retiring, renewables are flooding in and climate extremes are straining infrastructure. What was once a predictable, one-way supply chain is now a fast-evolving system with risks coming from both nature and cyberspace.

Engineers are scrambling to keep pace – integrating rooftop solar and batteries, reinforcing old lines, designing a grid that can bend without breaking. The goal isn’t just to keep the lights on; it’s to build a system that can adapt, recover and evolve. A resilient grid by design.

Look inside the new Melbourne Metro

A new metro tunnel is set to transform the city’s rail network. Explore the tunnelling and signalling innovations that drove construction.

By Joe Ennis, Joseph Harding and Lachlan Haycock

With twin nine-kilometre tunnels, five deep-level stations, advanced signalling and a high-capacity communications-based train control (CBTC) system, this $15 billion piece of infrastructure is set to reshape how commuters move through the heart of the city.

Balancing the boom in offshore wind

The building of offshore wind farms and the decommissioning of ageing assets will test the limits of Australia’s ports, vessels and skilled workforce

Australia’s offshore engineering sector is on the brink of its most complex decade yet. Two enormous tasks are happening in parallel – building offshore wind farms and decommissioning ageing oil and gas assets. Each is essential to Australia’s energy transition. Together, they’re set to test the limits of the nation’s ports, vessels and skilled workforce.

More than 1000 offshore wells and 57 fixed facilities will need to be decommissioned over the next five decades, at an estimated cost exceeding AUD 60 billion, according to the Centre of Decommissioning Australia (CODA).

At the same time, six declared offshore wind zones – from Gippsland and the Southern Ocean in Victoria to the Hunter, the Illawarra, the Bass Strait and Bunbury – are driving Australia’s next clean energy frontier. Victoria alone is targeting 9 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2040.

This is a challenge and an opportunity, said Shahed Jafarpour Hamedani, Senior Maritime Engineer at GHD, speaking at the recent Australasian Coasts & Ports 2025 Conference.

“The overlapping needs and synergies of offshore wind and decommissioning present a unique opportunity for Australia to build a competitive and sustainable offshore service ecosystem.”

Cracking the corrosion conundrum

It costs Australia $78 billion each year – so how are engineers working to protect our critical infrastructure?

Corrosion remains one of the most persistent and expensive engineering challenges in Australia. But engineers are working with new materials and advanced coatings to push back against the forces of nature.

By Jonathan Bradley

The failure of vital infrastructure often begins long before there are visible signs. Everything might seem in working order – structures stable, materials sound, surfaces intact – but, beneath that surface, environmental forces are at play.

Exposure to moisture, stress and chemical agents gradually initiates corrosion, undermining the integrity of materials over time. Minor imperfections expand, connections weaken, and what starts as a slow, silent process can escalate into sudden, costly failure.

It’s not a dramatic fiction but a constant, complex problem engineers must anticipate and manage in the real world.