Building Compliance Seminar

 

Following the Grenfell Tower fire on the 14 of June 2017, which caused approximately 80 deaths and many injuries, the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull wrote to all States and Territories seeking support to ensure necessary steps are taken to prevent a similar tragedy taking place in Australia.

Because of this, the Building Commissioner Peter Gow announced on 4 July 2017, that the WA Building Commission would broaden the scope of the initial audit it was carrying out on aluminium composite panels (ACP) into a State-wide cladding audit that includes all high-risk, high-rise buildings with cladding attached.

The audit team in WA are close to finalising the first stage of the auditing process which was to compile a list of buildings that fall within the scope. The list is expected to contain around 0 buildings.

The next stage will involve a risk assessment of the building identified in stage one. During this process, the audit team will identify buildings that warrant further investigation.

To further inform members, the Property Council held events around the country to discuss the details of the audit and building materials compliance more generally. The building compliance seminar in Perth brought together the WA Building Commission and industry leaders from the Society of Fire Safety – Engineers Australia, Insurance Council of Australia, Insulation Australasia, and Law Firm DLA Piper to discuss fire and performance risks of non-compliant or conformant building materials and implications for industry state regulatory response.   

The Property Council is taking an active role by representing building owners on a Fire Safety Audit of High-Rise Buildings reference group at the WA Building Commission and is assisting the Building Commission in developing a strategy on behalf of owners.

The Property Council urges any members who have concerns to contact the Building Commission directly by clicking here.

For further information on the State-wide audit click here.