The Building Confidence Report (BCR) was released three years ago in April 2018. The report outlined deficiencies in the current building regulatory system and a perceived lack of confidence in the building industry. The report made 24 recommendations for consideration and implementation by governments. At the 3 year anniversary of the report, it is important to reflect on where we are now and where we are headed.
Responding to the Building Confidence Report
Since mid-2019, the ABCB’s Building Confidence Report (BCR) Implementation Team has been developing responses to the BCR recommendations for implementation by governments and you have been with us the whole way. So what have we done together over this time?
Nine public consultation processes
We have completed consultation on nine issues papers with eight more planned for the remainder of this year. Three commence this month relating to integrity of building surveyors and their role in enforcement, building manuals and a building product assurance framework. Check out our Team webpage to see when written submissions are due.
More than 1,350 written submissions
We have read and analysed each and every submission. We are drawing on your submissions to develop practical responses that address the issues in the BCR. This means government can be confident your views have been considered.
Around 500 hours of formal consultation meetings
As well as reading, we are listening deeply to what you have to say. In formal meetings and in our additional chats with you outside of these.
We think carefully about what you tell us. You have called for greater national consistency. You’ve told us about the need to improve enforcement, data collection and information sharing. And you’ve highlighted the importance of getting the right information and support when you encounter difficulties.
We are sharing these insights with all levels of government and working closely with them on solutions through responses to the BCR recommendations.
Five finalised projects, and 11 more due to be finalised by June 2021
Our revised Building Confidence National Framework will show you which projects are due for completion and when. In the coming months we are hoping to wrap up work on important responses such as the National Registration Framework, guidance on a nationally consistent framework for publishing compliance and auditing outcomes, and a model process for building design approvals.
We’ve got 9 months left to go!
Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed only 16 of our 24 projects are accounted for. The remaining 8 recommendations are due to be finalised by the end of 2021 – that’s less than 9 months away. We’ve still got a way to go before all the BCR recommendations and related projects have a finalised response.
So what can you expect to happen once a BCR recommendation is finalised?
A finalised response is one that has been endorsed by the Australian Building Codes Board, and noted or agreed by Building Ministers as ready for implementation.
If the response involves changing the NCC or developing a related tool, ABCB staff will work to implement these. Examples include:
- NCC 2019 Amendment 1, provisions for documenting Performance Solutions
- the growing NCC CPD suite
- the National Dictionary of Building and Construction Terms.
All other finalised responses are provided to State and Territory governments to implement and many published on the ABCB website.
Work on implementation is already underway in a number of States and Territories. This is great to see. It is also the most critical part of ensuring our collective efforts result in tangible improvements to the effectiveness of compliance and enforcement systems in the building and construction industry.