2019 NCC Seminars: Building Code of Australia update (Part 2)

We've come to condensation.

For NCC 2019, we have some brand new provisions, and these are in both Volume One and in Volume Two, concerning condensation.

This is the first time a part of the NCC has directly addressed condensation in buildings.

Condensation can lead to mould growth and mould growth leads to unhealthy conditions for occupants and so, it is appropriate and in line with the current goals of the NCC to include something which controls condensation.

At the outset, I have to say three things.

Firstly, I need to say that these measures aren't a magic bullet.

They're not going to necessarily kill condensation in your buildings.

You can follow the NCC yet they're not going to prevent condensation in all cases.

You can still get condensation if you follow these provisions.

That's number one.

The second thing I need to say is that these provisions, like the rest of the NCC, are minimum standards.

Nothing stops you from going beyond the minimum standards set by the NCC.

So, if you are dealing with an area which is prone to condensation, then there's nothing stopping you and it's probably a good idea to go beyond the minimum standards that I'll state very shortly.

The third thing I need to say is that what you see in NCC 2019 is step one.

There is ongoing work going on in condensation, it's still on our work program, and so, it's very likely you're going to find some new provisions again in NCC 2022 covering condensation.

Yet we do have stage one provisions and here's what they cover.

They also come with some new performance requirements.

Here they are for Volume One and Two.

Immediately, as you look at these performance requirements, two things are apparent.

The first is, we're only talking about class 1, class 2, and class 4 parts of buildings.

And even in the class 2 buildings, we're only talking about the sole occ units.

So, they're a very limited scope of these provisions: the dwellings where people live, class 1; class 2 sole occ units; and class 4 parts of buildings.

The second thing to notice is, like I said earlier, these performance requirements themselves aren't looking for the eradication of condensation.

Even the performance requirements indicate that it's, you know, that we can't eradicate it.

It's not that easy.

The performance requirements are looking to minimise the health impacts associated with condensation.

There's two ways that the Deemed to Satisfy Provisions do this and that's through sarking and ventilation.

Firstly, sarking. This is the same provision in both volumes. F6.2 in Volume One and 3.8.72 in Volume Two.

The first thing to note is you don't have to use sarking.

These provisions aren't requiring that you use sarking.

It might be that another part of the NCC requires you to use sarking, but these provisions aren't requiring it.

If you do use sarking, that's great, then (a) here applies.

In those colder climate zones, not here in Brisbane, but in climate zones 6, 7, and 8, that sarking needs to be vapor permeable and also has to be outside of the insulation layer.

If you don't use sarking, that's fine, except (b) kicks in and you need to have a drained cavity unless you've got a single skin masonry wall or a single skin of concrete, set up concrete wall. That's sarking.

The second control is ventilation. The ventilation provision manages condensation by controlling where you discharge the air and also by giving a minimum rate of discharge, minimum flow rate.

Like the sarking, these provisions aren't requiring that you have ventilation.

It might be another provision requires that you have ventilation, but if you have ventilation, that's great.

You have to hit the required flow rate, which is 25 litres per second for bathrooms and sanitary compartments, and it's 40 litres per second where you've got more humid environments, in the kitchen and the laundry, where the clothes dryer is parked.

You've also got a discharge to the new requirements.

In most cases, this will mean discharging to outdoor air or discharging to a ventilated roof space.

The new provisions also spell out what a ventilated roof space looks like.

You have to do this even if you have a window.

About discharge, look carefully that for Volume One, that's the class 2 sole occ units and the class 4 part of a building, exhaust from the kitchen has to go outside.

You can use reticulating range hood inside a class 1, but if you go to, following 1, class 2 or class 4, your range hood has to go to the outside.

Here's another new part for Volume One only. Occupiable outdoor areas.

The question on everyone's mind, what is an occupiable outdoor area?

Well, I'm glad you asked because we've got a new defined term.

(audience chuckling)

(audience member speaking faintly)

(presenter chuckles)

We've got a new defined term.

It's a space on the roof or balcony or a similar part of the building which meets these requirements.

As you can see, it's outside, it's generally accessible, so it's not your plant equipment up on the roof, and it's where you can't readily escape from it, so it's not in that open space or directly associated with open space.

So, when you're thinking about occupiable outdoor areas, think about your rooftop bars, your rooftop car parks, parts of the building like that.

Why have we got these new provisions?

Well, it's for reasons like this.

It's clarifying how parts of the NCC apply.

Think of these two buildings. One on the left. These are in section.

On the left, we've got a three story building, and on the right is a two story building, rise and stories is two.

Except we've got an occupiable rooftop.

So, for the class 5 to 9 building under the current NCC, the one on the left will need to have a fire isolated exit stair because that stair would be serving three stories.

However, the building on the right, that same exit stair would be connecting only two stories as defined by the NCC.

On the left, we've got a fire isolated exit.

On the right, we don't.

However, our occupant up there, mate on the left and mate on the right, they're in very similar predicaments, aren't they?

So, part G6 Occupiable outdoor areas comes along and changes that. G6.4 counts the occupiable outdoor area on the right as a story for determining when a fire isolated exit is required.

It's not just about stories and exits.

The new Part G6 covers all these items that you see here and there's a clarification about how an occupiable outdoor area is to be treated.

Sometimes, a concession is appropriate because it's outside, for instance.

The fire hazard properties on that first top point there.

Because we're outside, smoke's going to get away so we don't worry about applying the C1.10 requirements to do a smoke hazard management.

However, we do want to control the spread of fire on an occupiable outdoor area, so we do have C1.10 requirements related to spread of fire applying to these occupiable outdoor areas, the rooftop bars and the like.

Now, it's important to note that these provisions don't apply to every single occupiable outdoor area as captured by that definition,because when you think about it,if you go to a hotel and go onto the balcony, that's a place which is outside the building and you can't, it's not connected to open space.

It meets all those parameters for the defined term.

What G6.1 does, the application provision in G6, it sets out parameters about when these provisions do apply.

So, your hotel balcony and other areas like that do get the fire hazard properties, you can't have excessive spread of fire up there, but it doesn't, you don't have to worry about counting that for the purposes of a story if it's just,and the other things there,you don't have to get your hose reel out onto the hotel, hose reels aren't required in the tubes.

The other parts don't apply.

And also, besides your hotel balconies, there's going to be other minor balconies and minor occupiable outdoor areas like a small balcony or a small deck coming off an office building, things like that.

But your rooftop bars, the larger, more significant ones are captured by the provisions.

Now, we come to section J.

When you pick up Section J for NCC 2019, you'll note that a lot has changed.

There's new verification methods. J2 Glazing has been removed entirely.

It doesn't exist in NCC 2019 and that's because now, there's a new whole of facade approach to measuring glazing and insulation.

You have to take into account the entire wall and not count the wall and the glazing separately.

So, J2 has basically been squashed into J1.

You'll also find the level of stringency has generally increased.

There's a lot of change.

You'll also notice a transition period.

I did touch on this earlier but I'll describe at a bit more detail now.

I need to explain how this transition period works.

Until 1st of May next year, you can use the current Section J, 2016, or you are welcome to use the Section J of NCC 2019.

But the thing about this transition period until the 1st of May next year is you can't mix and match.

The changes in NCC 2019 are so extensive that you can't mix and match between 2016 and 2019.

You have to choose 2016 or 2019, not a bit of one and a bit of the other.

We've got this transition period for the same reason we have any transition period.

It's to give industry a chance to become familiar with the new requirements.

Because they are very significant changes, a one year period has been placed to allow industry to become familiar with these requirements.

Here are some of the changes.

We've got a quantified performance requirement. JP1 now has kilojoules per square meter targets for conditioned spaces.

I mentioned the stringency's gone up. You're looking at about a 30 to 40%, depends where the building is, but you'd be achieving a 30 to 40% energy use decrease for a Section J 2019 building.

Reference building verification method, JV3, the parameters have been firmed up in that one.

There's extra detail about the model building and the Deemed to Satisfy, the two model buildings.

I mentioned J2's gone because it's been squashed into J1.

There's also HVAC systems, heating, ventilation, air conditioning has been given the holistic approach as well, so that J5 has been amended accordingly.

And for the first time, the NCC controls the amount of energy that's used by lifts and escalators.

We're not going to cover all these changes today.

If we did, we'd be hear for another hour on top of the usual seminar.

Instead, this seminar is concentrating on things you need to know this year for May, on the basis that we've got opportunity to provide further education for things you need to know next May.

What we do have is we're working with the Property Council of Australia.

They're going to be rolling out some seminars on Section J Energy efficiency for NCC 2019, so look out for those seminarstowards the middle of the year.

We'll have details on our website.

We're also working on an updated edition of the handbook, the Section J handbook is being updated very extensively to reflect the new provisions, so keep an eye out for those on our website.

There's also new calculators that are going up for not just, well glazing calculator's gone, obviously, because J2's gone, but we've got facade calculators, air conditioning calculators going up on our website as well,so keep a look out for those.

That brings us through Volume One and we're now up to Volume Two.

Now, we have covered a lot of Volume Two changes already through our first run through Volume One because a lot of the changes in Volume One are also in Volume Two like condensation.

We're going to go through and pick up the things we haven't covered yet.

One of the first thing you'll notice when you pick up Volume Two is that some parts have been moved around.

For starters, we've expanded 3.10 and we've brought in heating appliances.

There's also another new part in there, 3.10.6, decks and balconies attachments.

We've also grouped all the structural requirements and put them into a new part, Part 3.0.

There was 3.11, structure, and a few other requirements.

We've grouped those into Part 3.0.

What we're doing is we're restructuring to make Volume Two what it always was meant to be and that is the structure of Volume Two follows the construction sequence of a house.

You start with the structure, the footings, the slab, move through into your framing and then into your cladding, et cetera, et cetera.

Some of these amendments are to make the structure follow the sequence of a house more closely.

Part 3.5 and Part 3.7, 3.5 being Roof and wall cladding and Part 3.7 being Fire safety, these have been restructured as well because that ACP Review project, Acceptable Construction Practise Review project

I mentioned earlier, has been very busy in these areas and has created a lot of new content and a lot of changes in there.

And so, Part 3.5 and 3.7 have been restructured as well.

Volume Two receives nine new verification methods.

Some of these we've already talked about for Volume One such as natural light and building sealing. V2.6.2.3, that's also in Volume One as J V4, and this is where you use blower door testing to verify that a building's sealing is appropriate.

If you're looking to do a performance solution in any of these areas, check out these verification methods.

They may suit your project.

Move to Part 3.1.

We get a new acceptable construction manual here in Part 3.1.

There's no acceptable construction practise, as you're aware.

You've got your acceptable construction manual, which is where you can directly add to a standard or your acceptable construction practise which is where you find Deemed to Satisfy Provisions setting that out.

We've got a new acceptable construction manual without practise for earth retaining walls.

And that brings up this reference standard, AS 4678, which hasn't a directly referenced standard until NCC 2019.

There's some limitations about when you can use this earth retaining wall standard.

Site conditions, you can't use it in areas prone to landslips.

Cyclic loading, you can't use it below plant and equipment.

What you will find is that this standard can be used for many retaining walls.

Maximum height, under this standard, 15 metres.

(chuckling)

If you're going to use a retaining wall bigger than 15 metres,you're going to have to use a different standard.

(audience chuckling)

I haven't done one myself.

Has anyone here done a 15.1 retaining wall?

Probably not.
(audience chuckling)

So, that's a brand new acceptable construction manual for NCC 2019.

Quite a few changes in Masonry, Part 3.3.

We still have the same acceptable construction manuals, AS 3700 and AS 4773.

Previously, we didn't have acceptable construction practise in NCC 2016 whereas this year we do.

So, Part 3.5 has been greatly expanded to bring in two new parts for masonry veneer, one part for masonry veneer and another part for

isolated masonry piers.

In the masonry veneer provisions,

you'll find requirements there.

So, you don't have to go
to the standard directly,

you can go to the provisions in the NCC,

and you find what you need to know there

about the masonry units,
about the articulation joints,

the materials in the articulation joints,

the joints between the units,

the accessories like the brick ties,

also accessories for lintels.

We've got requirements in
the NCC Deemed to Satisfy

about lintels in masonry veneer walls.

New part where you can
go straight to the DtS

to build a masonry veneer wall.

We've also got a new Part 3.3.6
for isolated masonry piers.

These are, of course, the piers

below the suspended floor

like indicated here on the right.

Those requirements will set
out masonry configurations

for piers up to a certain height

and you get plenty of lovely
diagrams like that one there.

But it's also covering your piers,

your masonry piers used for carports

and patios and things like that.

Deemed to Satisfy Provisions,

acceptable construction practise

in NCC 2019 Volume 2 for masonry.

The acceptable construction
manuals remain;

however, we have referenced amendments

to both those, 4773 and also 3700.

The NCC doesn't do this
often but sometimes it does.

When it references a standard,

the NCC will sometimes
modify that standard

as it's referenced.

In certain circumstances,
AS 3700 is modified

as you can see here.

You got the first one which
removes a part of a provision,

and you got the second one there

which makes you do some extra
work, extra calculation,

for particular unreinforced
masonry provisions.

If you're picking up AS 3700,

just make sure that you're
using it in the proper way

as stipulated by this part and others

in Part 3.3 Masonry.

We move to Part 3.4 Framing.

One thing to note here in Part 3.4

is that we've separated out what happens

in the subfloor timbers.

Previously, NCC 2016,

we didn't actually make
specific requirements

about inground timbers.

We only talked about subfloor timbers.

We've separated that out so
you've got your subfloor timbers

which are aboveground.

Those are the same provisions

taking your cross from last year

but also we've included now,

we have subfloor timbers
which are in the ground,

and of course you've got the higher

preservative treated timbers there,

the H5 requirements for
the inground timbers.

Steel framing.

Sorry, here we are.

Steel framing.

Steel framing, acceptable
construction manual,

acceptable construction practise,

acceptable construction practise,

the acceptable construction
practise for steel framing,

we found wasn't being used

and that's because the
reference documents,

the NASH Standards, National
Association of Steel Housing,

and also the 4100 and
4600 Australian Standards,

or Australian/New Zealand Standard 4600,

they're more contemporary provisions,

they're more useful provisions.

And so, those were being used

rather than the acceptable
construction practise

found in the NCC.

For that reason, for 2019, we've taken out

the acceptable construction practise

the acceptable construction practise

to the acceptable construction manual.

We've come to Timber framing
now, and in Timber framing,

we've got some additional
acceptable construction manuals.

Currently, in 2016,

you only see your 1684.2 in there,

and also the simplified version, .4,

is listed there as well at the moment.

We've expanded that list of
acceptable construction manuals.

You've got your design
of timber structures,

your 1720.5 for nailplated roof trusses.

Weíve introduced direct reference to cyclonic areas

and also particleboard flooring.

Now, a lot of these were
secondary references

picked up in other ways,

but with the Acceptable
Construction Practise Review project

found it was not appropriate

to put the direct reference in here.

I mentioned that Roof and wall
cladding has been overhauled

by the Acceptable Construction
Practise Review project.

So thereís been a lot of restructuring,

there's some additional content,

including content to do with what to do

when you have a parapet,

which hasn't been in the NCC yet.

We improved existing content,

especially content around flashing.

We've also included an
explanation of terms.

When you go to Framing,

you've got your explanation of terms there

for timber framing.

We've put that in also here for Part 3.5.

We've also updated the
sheet roofing requirements.

You're going to find, as you
open it up and have a look,

that we're putting in separate parts

for different subject areas

rather than just what we had previously,

which was separate clauses for areas.

This made it a more logical
way of setting this part out.

Part 3.5.2 for roof tiles,

there's more detail about flashings,

when the roof tile wall comes up

against a timber or masonry wall.

This has been important because flashings,

and flashings generally have
been improved for this section

because it's a big
problem across Australia,

and I understand to be quite
a problem here in Queensland.

The flashing hasn't been
always operating as it should

so we've been really expanding
the flashing provisions

and clarifying the flashing
provisions in the NCC.

We've been including lots of
new figures, such as this one.

This is a brand new figure in NCC 2019

which sets out where you
don't have to have a flashing

above a window or other
opening, on account of the eave.

Roof and wall cladding.

This is a new provision which
references wall cladding.

Minimum clearance from the
ground for your wall cladding

and your minimum clearance,

or minimum height of it
above the subfloor timbers.

This is brand new
Deemed to Satisfy for NCC 2019.

As you can see there, where
you're above the ground

in low rainfall or well drained areas,

your cladding has to be at least
100 millimetres above that.

If you pave or concrete,
only has to be 50 mil.

And you have to make sure your cladding

is at least 50 mil below
the suspended floor.

The ACP review's also gone
through Part 3.7 Fire safety.

As you can see here, like Part 3.5,

the fire safety provisions
have been regrouped

or recast into more logical structure.

You get different courses.

Again, we're getting different parts

that reflect the different subject areas.

There's been a lot of language rewrite

to make things simpler.

3.7.1.7 Allowable encroachments.

We get questions about that
at the office almost weekly,

on allowable encroachments,

so that was one of the first parts

to get a clarification and rewrite.

It's now 3.7.2.7.

We've separated out garage top
dwellings into its own part,

smoke alarms and evacuation.

It's a much more logical
set out of structure.

We've also made changes to
the method of measurement.

The very first part up in 3.7

which talks about how you
measure your distances

for the purposes of determining

if you need to provide fire
protection to an external wall.

The clarification we've
made is that we've said

that that include, oh,
sorry, let me start again.

The clarification is

that when you're measuring
from an external wall,

it excludes an eaves overhang.

We found that people were
measuring from the eaves

that might overhang a separating wall,

or, sorry, an external wall
which required protection.

We've included this diagram
here to illustrate the point.

They actually take the
measurement from the wall.

You see in this diagram that
there is no eave coming out

over the wall of the
taller class 1 dwelling,

coming out over the adjacent dwelling.

That's because it's not allowed

under the NCC
Deemed to Satisfy Provisions,

because it's taken from the external wall,

in terms of the measurement,

and you go to Allowable encroachments,

3.7.1.7, now 3.7.2.7,

you can't have an eave
inside that encroached area

within that 900 of the adjacent building.

We've included diagrams like this

and clarified method of
measurement to make that clear.

Another change to note
for separating walls

is that now you can
use a 90 mil brick wall

for your separating wall.

It's always been there that
you can have your FRL 60/60/60

or a 90 mil masonry wall
for an external wall.

What we've done is pick that up

and put that into separating walls

because it didn't sit there previously.

There are some new
explanatory information there

and new diagrams like this one

to cover circumstances when the 10a

is not between the
boundary and the class 1.

We're very familiar with
parts like this one,

with diagrams like this one,

which comes out of Figure 3.7.1.4.

That's now Figure 3.7.2.4 in
the restructured Part 3.7.

We're all familiar with this

where we've got our 10a between
the class 1 and the boundary

and, for that reason,

there has to be more than 900 millimetres

or provided with fire protection

as you see there, wall with an FRL.

However, it is possible for fire

to spread around corners.

How many people talk about the fire

just travelling in one
direction for Volume Two

and in Volume One, it
can go in all directions?

(audience murmuring)
Yup, I'm seeing

some nods there.

Because fire can travel around corners,

there's a series of new diagrams

in Figure 3.7.2.4,

which take into account situations

where the class 10 is
not between the boundary

and the class 1.

And, of course, there are similar diagrams

where there's two class
1's on the same boundary.

Where we have less than 900 millimetres,

protection has to be provided.

You've got two options.

You can protect the wall
of the 10a as show there,

that could be your carport or your garage,

or you can provide the protection

between the house and the 10a.

Because it's always been the case

that the National
Construction Code, the BCA,

doesn't mind about the
10a going up in flames.

It's about stopping the spread of fire

from one class 1 building
to another class 1 building.

That's always been the case.

And here, our stack of new
figures, new scenarios,

inside Figure 3.7.2.4.

Separating walls.

There's another change in Separating walls

and that's about cantilevered
separating walls.

This one's a bit of a clarification

because a lot of walls
have been showing up

on building sites like this

as developers get more and more bedrooms

into attached class 1 dwellings,

and also have to maintain their driveway,

turning circles, and things like that.

So, we're getting a lot of
cantilevered separating walls

and the question that came up was,

does a cantilevered separating wall

as shown in that diagram there,

does that commence at the
footings or ground slab

as required by the NCC?

And this is another one where
some people say, yes, it does,

and other people say, no, it doesn't.

It wasn't clear, so we've actually gone

and written some new
Deemed to Satisfy Provisions

which cover what to do when
you have a separating wall

which cantilevers as
shown in this diagram.

As indicated there, there's
a horizontal projection

out of the side of that separating wall

which requires protection to
the underside of the floor.

That goes for 1.8 metres out of the side.

Here's a photo taken from a building site

and this is a building
site here in Queensland.

You can see how you'd have...

Going to just use our laser pointer here.

We've got the separating
wall, which cantilevers,

and I'm sure there's
plenty of reinforcement

in that wall.
(audience laughing)

I got scared when I saw this photo.

I thought, far out.

What was the bricklayer thinking?

But I'm told there's a lot of backspan

and a lot of reinforcement in
that masonry wall right there.

You could have a fire
break out of this one,

and of course this doesn't
have to be masonry here.

A fire can break out of that
dwelling and move across.

The flux is certainly sufficient,

would certainly be sufficient
to cause a fire to start

in the neighbouring dwelling
and then up through the wall.

So, what to do in this scenario?

The new provisions require
fire protection to that area

for 1.8 metres.

Now, that can be a 60 minute
incipient spread ceiling,

it could be an FRL of 30/30/30,

or it can be the fire
protective covering as defined.

Of course, these are the
existing requirements

for a separating floor.

All we've done is pick those out

and applied them to the scenario

where we're providing
protection to the underside

of a cantilevered,

on both sides of a
cantilevered separating wall.

Another new part this year

is attachment of decks and balconies.

I love this photo.

The dog's saying, where'd
my stairs go? (chuckles)

The Attachment of decks and balconies.

We don't want this to happen

and many would be aware and I
don't want to make light of this

because there has been a lot of situations

where the deck has become detached

and there has been serious
consequences of that.

Previously, the NCC has had nothing to do

with how you put a waling plate on a wall

so as to provide support to a deck

which is attached to a house.

So, either you do the 1684.2 approach

and put a bunch of posts
right next to the wall

to take the load

or you would have a waling plate

but have that specifically engineered

for that scenario under AS 1170.

Those are existing ways

of getting a deck next to a building.

But for NCC 2019, we've
included another way

which is found in Part 3.10.6

Attachment of decks and balconies.

What we're doing is setting out

when you can use a waling plate

in order to attach a deck
or balcony to a wall.

Now, there's some limitations

about when you can use this part,

as is with the case of
many referenced standards

or any part, many parts of the NCC.

You can only apply this new part

if your deck is less than
or equal to three metres

above the footing.

There's also some
limitations for the wall.

Important to note is that your
wall has to be a framed wall.

Timber or steel, doesn't matter,
it has to be a framed wall

or it has to be a Core Filled wall

as shown in this diagram here.

There are no Deemed to Satisfy
Provisions in Part 3.10.6

for a masonry, unreinforced masonry leaf.

So, your regular brick in your wall,

you can't use 3.10.6 in order
to attach a waling plate

to support a deck.

Of course, you can still
use the existing means

that are available to you,

an engineered solution or a row of posts,

but you won't find anything in
3.10.6 for the masonry wall,

for the unreinforced masonry wall.

What you will find, fixing requirements,

how to fix that waling plate.

You're going to find some
flashing requirements

to ensure that the wall
stays weatherproof.

You're going to find bracing
requirements for the deck.

You're also going to find
lots of fantastic diagrams

like this one, which is
showing how the waling plate

is attached to a Core Filled masonry wall.

This brings us to Energy
efficiency Part 3.12 of Volume Two.

There's been some amendments
for Energy efficiency,

but not as substantial as
Volume One, but there are some.

The first thing to note

when we come to Energy
efficiency for Volume Two

is that it also gets a transition period.

It was identified that
Energy efficiency, generally,

it might've been too
complex to separate it out

so it's blank approval
for energy efficiency.

All the provisions get
a transition period.

It's like the Volume One one.

You can use NCC 2019 Part 2.6

where the performance
requirements are kept

or Part 3.12,

or you can use the current
provisions in NCC 2016.

Like with Volume One,
you can't mix and match.

That transition runs
out on the adoption date

of next, oh, sorry, from 1st May 2020,

so that's one year from the adoption date.

What's different?

Well, a few things.

One to look at is 3.12.0.1.

They've introduced separate heating

and cooling loads for houses

assessed using house
energy rating software.

What's this mean?

In short, when you get your
star rating for a house,

that star rating is
calculated from a benchmark

which just takes your
heating loads for a year,

takes your cooling loads for a year,

combines those and then measures
that against the benchmark

in order to determine your star rating.

You still have to do that, but what this,

since this alteration here does

is it means that you need
to take that heating load

and compare that heating
load with a parameter set out

and also take your cooling load

and separately compare that
also against the parameter.

These parameters are set out

in a brand new reference document

found on our website for free download.

You have to do your star rating

and your certificate will tell you

your heating loads and cooling loads.

You just got to make sure
that those separate loads

are less than the parameters set out

in the new reference document.

It's worth noting that J0.2 in Volume One,

which applies to class 2 sole oc units

and class 4 parts of a building,

which, when you use
the star rating method,

it also requires separate heating
and cooling loads

just as I've described.

There's also been changes
in building sealing,

including this change here.

What this change has done,

this means that when you've
got a class 1 dwelling

and a class 10a carport,

or, sorry, class 10a
garage attached to that,

and that garage is not
inside the conditioned space,

it usually isn't,

then you need to put your weather seal

on the door that leads from
the house into the garage

in climate zones 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

And like I mentioned earlier,

there's a new verification method

that you could use, the
blower door testing method,

to check your building sealing.

There's been a number of other changes

through 3.12.3 to do
with building sealing.

A lot of it is explanatory information

because we noted that,

it's just information
being placed in the code

to help you achieve building sealing.

We're up to the common schedules now.

We've worked through Volume One,

we've worked through Volume Two.

The Common Schedules are found at the back

of each volume of the NCC.

The Common Schedules
contain the defined terms

for reference documents and other things

that are found in all volumes of the NCC.

A lot of these defined terms,
we've mentioned already,

such as battery system,
occupiable outdoor area.

These are new defined
terms which are associated

with changes that have
gone in for NCC 2019.

However, there is one
definition that's changed

of its own accord,

and that's the defined term for atrium.

[Audience Member] Hmm.

Under 2016, a space became an atrium

for the purposes of the NCC

if it was wholly or
substantially enclosed.

So, a space which is wholly
or substantially enclosed

connecting two or more stories, et cetera,

that's an atrium for
the purposes of the NCC.

This is a photo of an atrium
at 1 Bligh Street in Sydney,

a very interesting building.

This atrium goes through
the middle of the building

and it's roofed, so it's wholly enclosed

and therefore it's an atrium
for the purposes of the NCC.

But hypothetically, let's say that roof

covered 75% of the atrium.

Is it substantially enclosed?

Probably?

What if it covered 50%, is
it substantially enclosed?

25%, is it substantially enclosed?

It's hard to measure.

So, what we did is we made a change there

to indicate that you need
to be greater than 50%.

We've put a number on substantially.

When your floor or roof covers 50% or more

of the area of the space measured in plan,

then the area, that space, is an atrium

for the purposes of the NCC.

We've also clarified how that's measured

because it was a little bit unclear

in the previous defined term.

Next to talk about is the Fire
Safety Verification Method.

That's a brand new comprehensive
verification method

which covers a lot of fire
safety performance requirements

found in Volume One.

Because it covers so many
performance requirements,

we couldn't plug it in
each and every part of the,

each and every section of the NCC

which had those performance requirements.

Instead, we moved it to
the back in Schedule 7

where it sits in its own schedule.

And because it's not your
everyday verification method,

it's been given a delayed
adoption date, 1st of May 2020.

This is found in the pages of NCC 2019

but it's actually not a part of the NCC

for the purposes of the NCC
until the 1st of May next year.

This is to give industry the
chance to become familiar

with this new verification method.

There's a few things to note upfront

about this new verification method.

The verification method
stipulates that it needs to be,

the performance solution that you make

from this verification method

needs to be prepared by
a fire safety engineer,

sometimes known as the fire engineer.

The VM makes this stipulation.

The verification method also stipulates

that you need to produce a
performance based design brief.

This is the brief that comes
out from that four step process

where all stakeholders are included

in the development of
the performance solution.

How the verification method operates

is that it sets out various
design fire scenarios

and with each design fire scenario,

it stipulates what the
outcome for that must be.

In all cases, with every design
fire scenario that applies,

you need to demonstrate equivalence

with the Deemed to Satisfy Provisions.

These are a few salient points

about the fire safety verification method.

As it is a verification
method, it's worth remembering,

as always, the verification
method is an option.

You don't have to use
this from 1st of May 2020.

It's there as an option 'cause
it may suit your project

to use the FSVM.

You could always use the
Deemed to Satisfy Provisions

or you could use a different
performance solution.

Now, the Fire Safety Verification Method

is quite a large and
complex verification method.

We're not going to go
through it in detail today

but there's a specific education program

which is being developed for
this verification method.

The details are still being finalised

but look out on our website for
a specific education program

for this verification method.

It should be available
towards middle of the year.

There's also a handbook

which goes with this verification method.

It's a very large and complex handbook

which goes with this
complex verification method.

Also, because it's going to be enacted

in May next year,

we'll be doing this very
seminar series next year

and it's very likely that
we're going to be going

into more detail in that seminar series

on the Fire Safety Verification Method.

We're moving into Referenced documents.

That's Schedule 4 in the Common Schedules,

all volumes of the NCC.

What this tables does here, it shows you,

I suppose, the extent of change.

Almost half the reference
documents for each volume

have been amended.

When I say amended, that
could be a new amendment

or a new addition that's been referenced

or it could a brand new reference document

such as the FPAA standards
that we mentioned,

that we went over earlier.

Now, that's a huge rate of
change, and to assist with this,

amongst the documents
that are on your chairs

is a list of amendments
specifically for standards

where we've outlined what the
changes to each standard are

so that you can use that to make sure

that you're using the correct standard

when you pick up NCC 2019.

And, of course, that document is available

at that website I mentioned earlier:

abcb.gov.au/abcb/seminar.

Soon, I'll invite Alison
Scotland from Standards Australia

to talk about some changes
to some reference standards.

But before I do that, I want to update you

on a change to a note,

to the AS 1530 series and AS 4072.

.1, sorry, AS 4072.1.

These are test standards which
relate to combustibility,

flammability, and fire resistance.

For quite a while now,
(clears throat) excuse me.

For quite a while now, each
of these test standards

has been given a note

and that note has permitted the use

of test reports for products

under previous editions of the standard.

This is often called
the grandfather clause.

A new reference standard of
AS 1530.1, say, comes along,

the grandfather clause allows you to use

the existing test reports for
products, existing products,

if that product had been tested
under a previous standard.

Amendments carry on and
carry on and carry on,

but the grandfather clause
permits the old provision,

the existing products tested some time ago

to keep that test certificate.

But every time a new edition
of a standard is referenced,

it's referenced for a reason.

Could be for safety, it
could be to correct errors.

It's referenced for a reason,
and so it's been identified

that a lot of these
grandfathered certificates

are actually on quite old standards,

and safety and other
things have been improved

and it's become less appropriate

to allow that grandfather
clause to remain.

So, for that reason, an
expiry date has been placed

on the grandfather clause

and that expiry date
is the 1st of May 2022.

That's the scheduled,

the adoption date for next
scheduled edition of the NCC.

So, until that date, until NCC 2022,

you can still use the grandfather clause.

The existing products can still be done,

used under the previous test certificate.

However, come 1st May
2020, the existing product

has to be retested under
the current standard.

That note will disappear

which allows the grandfathers in 2022,

and after that date,

you must use a current test certificate.