Univesity of Nairobi

HISTORY 101

NSW BUILDING LAW 2
Introduction
The NSW Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 No. 7 took effect on 11th June,
2020. The new law concerns the restoration of public confidence in the New South Wales
construction industry by acting as a guideline for the activities of designers and practitioners who
come up with new buildings. The purpose is to make sure that all important participants in the
building industry are regulated and that there are laws that guide them to comply with the BCA.
The Building Code of Australia (BCA) requires that all those who construct new buildings adhere
to specified regulations in order to reduce the shortcomings that have been affecting stakeholders
in the industry. This Act is part of the response made by the New South Wales Government to the
report made by Shergold Weir which concentrated on the demerits in implementing the National
Construction Code. The report was issued following complaints raised at the national level with
regard to building defects as well as combustible cladding.
Reasons for introducing the Act
Defects in several high-rise buildings have gone into the public domain. While this
particular Act focuses on addressing these issues, questions still arise as to whether the approach
adopted by the government is a representation of best practice regulation. A look at the building
defects in several residential areas, which was carried out by Deakin and Griffith Universities,
came up with the following observations. First, 85% of all newly constructed apartment
buildings had at least a defect (Jones & Holt, 2020). This result was replicated for several
different locations. In New South Wales, the rate was even higher—97 percent. The research also
showed that more than half of the defects were mainly linked to issues with the designs. The
other defects were attributed to variations that arose during construction. It was also found by theThis study source was downloaded by 100000878898342 from CourseHero.com on 01-31-2024 00:59:17 GMT -06:00
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NSW BUILDING LAW 3
researchers that the most common defects that were in those apartment buildings were mainly
related to cladding as well as water proofing. Additionally, structural defects were of the greatest
concern to the community that lived in those neighborhoods, although those defects were not
quite significant. It was also established that a single defect had the power to cause multiple
failures in the apartment whether it relates to water proofing or fire protection.
Related to the issue of poor construction quality are issues brought about by the dominant
business models which leave an insignificant way of recourse for the owners of such newly built
apartments. Most of the new apartments are constructed by developers who use special purpose
vehicles that get dissolved after all the units are sold. Purchasers of off-the-plan apartments often
contract the developer and have no direct contractual link w