The Design and Building Practitioners Act: Everything You Need to Know
The new Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 goes into effect on July 1, 2021. It only applies to buildings that are class 2 or have a class 2 part.
Changes have been made to regulations and other important things. In this piece, we explain what you should pay attention to and how to start or fix a building project in a way that follows all Australian rules.
What does the Design and Building Practitioners Act mean?
The Design and Building Practitioners Act gives design practitioners certain duties that help them plan and build buildings that follow the Building Code of Australia (BCA). The new Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) went into force in June 2022. It is said to restore trust in the building industry of NSW by strictly regulating all designing and building work.
The main goal of the new act is to regulate construction and design by making sure that each step of building is properly recorded and follows Australian rules. Also, the new act says that no new or repair building work can begin until all regulated designs have been received from registered design practitioners (remedial engineers) and all required declarations of compliance have been filed (1).
What kinds of works are affected?
Aside from important things like new buildings, adds, changes, and more, the act has caused a number of changes in the rehabilitation space.
To start, all skilled engineers who work on class 2 buildings must be registered. If they are not, they can be fined. Only those who are allowed to must register by July 7 if they have this degree and work in class 2 or a building with a class 2 part. If you do professional engineering work on your own without being registered, you could be fined up to $165,000 for a corporation or $55,000 for an individual.
Registered repair engineers also have new duties that they must follow to the letter. Some of these are following the Code of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and having records of every project and design made.
Why regulated designs and compliance declarations are important
Key parts of the building process, like regulated designs and compliance statements, have been changed by the Design and Building Practitioners Act of 2022.
Regulated designs are the plans for a part of a building in a class 2 building. Registered design practitioners need them whenever they do work on a class 2 building, whether it's new or already there. Depending on the building work, there may not be a need for regulated plans. A registered design practitioner is qualified to offer registered designs that follow the rules, and they can also get help from experts.
When it comes to compliance declarations, the name is a group title for design, building, and main compliance declarations. Compliance statements are needed for building work on class 2 buildings or buildings with class 2 parts. Design and building practitioners (architects, engineers, etc.) are the only ones who can give these declarations.
A registered design practitioner makes a design compliance statement when he or she says that a regulated design is in line with the BCA. On the other hand, building compliance declarations say that the building work was built according to a regulated design made by a registered design practitioner and has been approved by a registered building practitioner as complying with the BCA.
Lastly, principal compliance declarations say that all design compliance declarations have been made and signed by designers who have been licenced and given permission to do so.
How important and necessary it is to hire a remedial engineer to do repair work
Remedial engineering is a subfield of civil engineering that focuses on fixing structures or land that have been damaged or have caused damage, or that pose a risk to people or property, after finding out what caused the damage. Most of the time, remedial engineers deal with building cracks, concrete spalling, waterproofing, restoring facades, surface and subsoil drains, and more.
To hire a remedial engineer to do repair work, you should think about a few things, such as figuring out what caused the damage. This will allow the engineer to assess the situation and suggest the best way to fix it, including design, specs, and construction notes.
It is important to hire qualified engineers to look at your building and run a number of tests that will help them figure out if the structure is in good shape and what repairs need to be made.
Penalties For Noncompliance
If you don't follow the Design and Building Practitioners Act by not making sure you hire a trained practitioner before starting work, you could face serious consequences. It is important to work with qualified practitioners to make sure that everyone is safe and that all repairs are done right and the right paperwork is filed.
Companies can be fined up to $33,000 and people up to $11,000 for not following the rules. Making a misleading or false building compliance declaration can get you fined around $22,000 or two years in jail. In some cases, both things can happen.
Companies can be fined $11,000 and individual workers can be fined $200 if they don't follow an approved officer's instructions or try to stop them from doing so.
What MJ Engineering Projects Can Do for You
MJ Engineering Projects has worked as a remedial works expert for more than fifteen years. The Sydney-based company's main goal is to complete successful remedial repair jobs for homes, businesses, and infrastructure.
We offer Remedial Superintendent Services, in which we fix things up and fix structures on behalf of the Owners Corporation. This makes sure that all work is done according to the plans, within the budget, and within the time limits.
Aside from this, we also do Diagnostic Investigation Services to find problems with a building before fixing them. This is important to stay on budget and make sure all the work is done right.
As for our Technical Specification Services, we can list the exact requirements that a building repair job must meet to meet BCA standards. This will also let workers and other people involved in the project get information about the tools, materials, and parts they need.
Contact us to find out more about our services and how we can help you with your unique project and needs.