What is recommendation 20?

Shergold & Weir's Building Confidence Report made 24 recommendations to building ministers to address systemic issues in the Australian building industry.

Building ministers established the BCR Implementation Team within the Office of the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) to work with governments and industry to respond to the recommendations with a focus on national consistency where possible.

The BCR Implementation Team’s work aims to establish national best-practice models in response to the reports recommendations. If implemented the responses will strengthen compliance with the National Construction Code (NCC), better protecting the interests of those who own, work in, live in and use Australian buildings.

All responses to BCR recommendations have been developed in accordance with the Building Confidence National Framework with input from industry and governments.

State and territory governments have agreed to consider implementation of all responses endorsed. This process will take time depending on each government’s regulatory reform agenda and may be undertaken in stages.

The model guidance for building manuals represents a nationally agreed response to  recommendation 20. This recommendation states “that each jurisdiction requires that there be a comprehensive building manual for commercial buildings that should be lodged with the building owners and made available to successive purchasers of the buildings”.

The BCR identified that building owners often do not receive access to full sets of final documents related to the design and construction of their buildings, including those needed for ongoing management and maintenance.

This limits the ability of building an owner to maintain their building so it continues to perform, as intended, for the life of the building.