Page 18 - Climate Control News Magazine March 2019

Commercial Air Conditioning
Construction problems put pressure on commercial installations
FROM THE OPAL TOWER DEBACLE IN NSW TO COMBUSTIBLE CLADDING- FUELLED FIRES IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA’S CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY HAS BEEN GRAPPLING WITH A LONG LIST OF COMPLIANCE ISSUES IN RECENT MONTHS WHICH IS LIKELY TO IMPACT COMMERCIAL AIR CONDITIONING INSTALLATIONS ACROSS THE NATION.
THE DECADE-LONG RUN of a multi-storey building boom in most capital cities is set for a slowdown as the construction industry works to overcome a few compliance hurdles.
The agenda for COAG’s Building Ministers’ Fo- rum (BMF) held in Hobart mid-February was hi- jacked by a number of critical issues which put pressure on state and territory ministers to act.
Fire Protection Association Australia’s (FPA Australia) Deputy CEO/General Manager of Technical Services Matthew Wright attended the meeting and renewed calls for the Shergold- Weir Building Confidence report to be imple- mented in a nationally-consistent fashion.
“At the moment, every time Australians buy an apartment they are playing Russian roulette when it comes to compliance, even if that apart- ment is brand new,” he said.
Fortunately there was progress at the forum with Australia’s building ministers announcing an in-principle ban on the use of combustible cladding in new construction.
In a communique, the Ministers’ said the ban
will be subject to a cost/benefit analysis, including impacts on the supply chain, potential impacts on the building industry, any unintended consequenc- es, and a proposed timeline for implementation.
The report covering all of these factors will be prepared in time for the next BMF in July, 2019.
Just days before the BMF residents were evac- uated from the Neo200 apartment building in Melbourne after the cladding caught fire.
The building used the same material as the Grenfell Tower in London, which caught fire kill- ing 72 people in 2017.
The Ministers were also updated on work to develop an Australian standard for permanent labelling of Aluminium Composite Panels (ACPs). To fast track this work it was agreed that a technical specification will be put in place first.
The Communique also said Ministers sup- ported “in-principle that building practitioners should owe a duty of care to building owners (and subsequent building owners) for residen- tial construction work and certain commercial construction for small business, and if required
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