Changes to NSW building regulations promise a better industry for all

At the same time, the engineering sector itself is changing, with compulsory registration being introduced for engineers in the building sector in NSW, as well as major changes in process and responsibility.

An enormous posse of industry and sector specialists, thought leaders, peak bodies — including the Owners Corporation Network — membership bodies and organisations has gathered to help the Office of the NSW Building Commissioner chase the cowboys out of town. 

The level of collaboration speaks volumes about the breadth of support for building sector reforms.

Engineers Australia is taking its responsibility to represent engineers, stakeholders around the sector, and the reputation of the profession extremely seriously. It is not only partnering with industry and government, it has brought on board a new Project Manager for Building Sector Reform, electrical engineer Baoying Tong CPEng.

“My new role is to effectively coordinate, on behalf of Engineers Australia, all the building sector reforms happening in New South Wales,” Tong said. 

“These reforms could potentially scale up and apply nationally, but, right now in New South Wales, I’m to ensure Engineers Australia has actions and responses prepared for all of the building sector reforms.”

Tong, who is on secondment to Engineers Australia from AECOM, said his focus is on coordinating with groups of subject area specialists working on each of the six pillars of the building reforms, ensuring the engineers involved effectively represent the knowledge and expertise of their profession.

“The first aspect is to effectively engage our stakeholders and understand our situation and position,” he said. 

“Secondly, it is to be actively participating in the various pillar discussions to make sure the views from our stakeholders are represented. And lastly, my role is to be collaborating with other stakeholders within the government and from other bodies.”

“Not business as usual”

Edmund Ang CPEng, Associate Director, Strategic Engineering, at AECOM, said the current building reforms in NSW are unique.

“It is quite a special event,” Ang said. 

“It is certainly not business as usual. There has been a lot more collaboration across the construction sectors, including between industry and industry bodies, and there is a great level of trust placed in the people who have been put forward to represent engineers in each of the various pillars.

“This is exciting, because that’s what engineering should be all about: close collaboration and inclusion across the whole sector, including between the professional body and the industry itself.”

Representing Engineers Australia on the Pillar 1 working group is Peter Johnson FIEAust CPEng, an ARUP Fellow. 

Over the past three years, Johnson has been instrumental in driving change in regulations and competency frameworks around fire safety engineering in buildings. He’s now turning that experience and focus more broadly to the regulatory frameworks around building.

The lessons learned in the area of fire safety, a strong basis of evidence, and research including accreditation, registration, and professionalism are now being brought across to other disciplines.

“When we looked at all of the regulation controls on fire safety engineering across Australia, in the building regulations we found they were all over the place. They were completely inconsistent across states. What we argued early on was there needs to be national consistency,” he said. 

“The second thing we found was a strong need to lift levels of competency.”

On Pillar 2 is mechanical engineering consultant Brett Fairweather FIEAust, Director of It’s Engineered.

Fairweather has also represented Engineers Australia in the Building Regulations Advisory Committee (BRAC) for the past five years, looking at reform and change in building-related regulations for NSW.
“The Building Commissioner is developing a series of rating systems to evaluate trustworthiness associated with developments,” Fairweather said.

“These systems will inform their own activities as well as decisions by external stakeholders, ultimately benefiting consumers by enabling better decision-making processes. It’s all still in development, but a multi-party rating scheme is expected that could be used to outline the likely trustworthiness of each development team.”

Fairweather illustrates the power of such a system by pointing to the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) safety rating given to cars. 

“This is a good rating because vehicle manufacturers are encouraged to do everything they can to make their cars as safe as possible, because the consumer has confidence in ANCAP ratings and this drives sales,” he said.

“Manufacturers invest in safety features and design quality because cars with low star ratings don’t last in the market, which is exactly what we want to happen with poorly rated developments.”

Skills, contracts and capability-building

Alexandra Sparvell, General Manager of Engineering Education Australia and a member of the senior management team responsible for the education business at Engineers Australia, is a representative on the Pillar 3 working group, which covers building skills and capabilities. 

“Our focus is around the education side of the framework,” Sparvell said. 

“When it’s decided exactly what skills and capabilities need to be added or improved as the reform process moves onwards, we’re about making sure there’s an immediate platform to provide that learning, one that is accessible, fit for purpose, relevant and responsive.

“What engineers will see is a central place where they can access education to lift their skills and capabilities. It will be provided via the Office of the Building Commissioner and accessible from anywhere.

“Engineers Australia will also be increasing delivery of education specific for engineers to assist them in meeting the requirements of the new building code in 2021.”