Guidance released on fire safety and complying development

Amendments made to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Fire Safety) Regulation 2014 (the Regulation) introduced on 18 July 2014 removed the requirement for a building fire safety report to be submitted with the Complying Development Certificate (CDC) (previous Clause 132A).

A new Clause 129D was added which requires that certifying authorities to whom an application has been made for a CDC affecting an existing building notify the council of any “significant fire safety issue” they become aware of.

Amendments to Clauses 131 and 132 provided that a CDC cannot be issued for a change of building use, or for building work involving the internal alteration of an existing building, unless the building contains measures that are “adequate”, in the event of a fire, to facilitate the “safe” egress of persons from those parts of the building affected by the change of building use or the building work.

Following stakeholder feedback to the Department of Planning & Environment concerned about the lack of clarity of the term “significant fire safety issue” and the increased liability of certifiers, a technical guideline and standard notice (attached), for significant fire safety issues has been released.