Posts Tagged ‘building works’

What is “building” works?

Monday, March 8th, 2010

(More to the point) Why does it matter? It’s really important in the context of sorting out whether you need a building permit as if it’s not building works then the Building Act 1993 does not apply.

Having said that, I always thought this would be pretty easy to explain, but because the Building Act 1993 defines “building works” by exception – it’s actually not that easy.

“building work means work for or in connection with the construction, demolition or removal of a building”

What is easy to clarify is that it’s not civil works – stuff like e.g. bridges, silos, tunnels, structures …. no, actually a structure can also be a building, so the construction of some structures is building works! Mmm, let’s go back to some basics. Let’s start with the definition of a building: (more…)

What is Building Control legislation?

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

An associate of mine has just written a great presentation about what is the legal basis (in lay persons terms) for the fire protection requirements in Victoria, Australia.  Russell said one of the things that motivated him to write it was people keep saying to him (and his clients) “it’s the law.” “The law”! Gee, that covers lots of ground. I agree with Russell, let’s narrow it down a bit!

In part, the application of these, and other building requirements, is about Building Control legislation. (I know you have been pondering this question!) Building Control legislation (in Victoria, Australia) can be explained, in part, by what its applied to. Of course, I am taking here about the application of the Building Act 1993 and Building Regulations 2006. It’s about defining minimum standards of compliance for buildings in the areas of health, safety, amenity, and energy efficiency for the occupants. (Energy efficiency is an interesting recent inclusion, it is really about the building’s wider impact on the community over the longer term rather than for the specific occupants of a building!) (more…)