Suitability of Materials for Construction purposes

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade’s Post Incident Analysis Report into the Lacrosse Docklands apartment fire in November 2014 has highlighted the issue of the non-compliant use of building materials, and non-compliant building materials in the Australian building supply chain. It is the responsibility of all participants in the industry to be diligent in ensuring building materials are suitable for use and meet the standards set by the Building Code of Australia (BCA).

It is essential that only building materials that are compliant for the particular use are specified, approved and used in the construction of a building. This responsibility applies to all industry stakeholders that have an involvement in the manufacture or supply of building materials, and the design, approval and construction of a building.

Clause A2.2 of Volume One and Clause 1.2.2 of Volume Two of the BCA set out specific requirements to ensure a building design, or part of a design, complies with the requirements of the Building Act 1993 and Building Regulations 2006. It also outlines the methods available to demonstrate evidence of the suitability of materials. These methods apply for a building solution that is either a Deemed-to-Satisfy (DS) solution or an Alternative Solution.

Read the Suitability of materials for construction purposes information sheet information sheet for more information.

Accredited/Certified building products

Also available via the following links are a list of accredited and/or certified products which have been deemed suitable for use as a deemed-to-satisfy solution, without the need to request an Alternative Solution as part of your next building permit application:

http://www.vba.vic.gov.au/practitioners/building-product-accreditation
http://www.abcb.gov.au/product-certification/codemark/list-of-codemark-certified-products.aspx

For further details and information on how the BCA works in terms of deemed-to-satisfy solutions and alternative solutions to meet the performance requirements, click here to find out more.