Code compliance and structural safety “should go hand in hand”. 

The Northern Territory government has unveiled plans to avoid a repeat of a debacle that saw more than 200 unit owners notified that their buildings had potentially significant structural defects in need of urgent and expensive rectification.

Key points:

Structural designs of complex buildings would require third-party reviews under the proposed changes

• Building practitioners who breach regulations could face significantly higher fines
• The NT government hopes to enact the new building reforms by the end of the year

The proposed reforms, unveiled by Planning Minister Eva Lawler, would require commercial builders involved in multi-storey complexes to be registered for the first time and structural engineers to have their work verified by a third party.

“[The] majority of our builders are exceptional, they’re doing some amazing work,” Ms Lawler said.

“But there are some that aren’t and that’s what this is about.

“[It is] totally unacceptable that we have had Territorians who’ve made large investments and haven’t received a quality product.”

In 2019, the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics advised unit owners in nine multi-storey complexes in Darwin and Palmerston that their buildings were suspected of having non-compliant transfer slabs requiring urgent assessment.

Transfer slabs — which are reinforced sections of concrete that distribute floor loads onto support columns — can jeopardise the structural integrity of a building if inadequately designed.

Last year, the NT Building Practitioners Board fined structural engineer John Scott of JWS Consultants the maximum penalty of $6,300 after finding him guilty of “serious professional misconduct” for defective engineering design in relation to one of the buildings.

Five of the affected buildings have since been fully rectified, while two others are in the process of being fixed.

Structural issues in the remaining two complexes are yet to be resolved, with unit owners potentially liable for expensive rectification works.

Ms Lawler on Thursday announced a raft of proposed changes to the Building Act, including:

• Third-party peer reviews of structural designs for buildings over three stories to identify non-compliant designs before construction begins
• Mandatory ongoing professional development to ensure registered practitioners maintain their skills and regulatory knowledge
• Registration for commercial builders who currently do not require registration, even for multi-storey residential complex

“We know those issues around those residential apartments — the transfer slabs,” Ms Lawler said.

“These reforms that we are putting in place are there to address those issues.”

Penalties increased

Additionally, the government intends to increase the maximum penalty for disciplinary action against building practitioners to more than $25,000.

It also plans to employ a new structural engineer within the department, increasing its ability to undertake physical audits of buildings.

Ms Lawler said the proposed amendments were in line with recommendations made in the Building Confidence report, which was commissioned by Australia’s federal, state and territory building ministers in 2018.

The executive director of the Master Builders Association NT, David Malone, cautioned the government against adding further complexity to existing regulations, but acknowledged the need for some reform.

“When it comes to high-rise buildings, the only way to provide good consumer protection is actually to fix it in at the start, to design the building properly and to make sure all the systems are in place to build a good building,” Mr Malone said.

“These reviews right now protect the consumer [although] they may add slightly to the cost.

“But for those people who have been affected in the past, they’ll say it’s a very modest amount to get the quality that they wanted to receive right up front.”

The government plans to undertake a month of consultation about its proposed changes and hopes to implement the new development regime by the end of the year.

www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-04/nt-government-unveils-building-sector-legislation-reform