Page 23 - Climate Control News Magazine Feb 2020
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IN ITS LATEST Communique, the BMF called on industry associations to develop the scheme as a priority to help lift stand- ards nationally.
The industry has been under intense scru- tiny in recent years following the Lacrosse Building fire in November, 2014 which exposed a pandora’s box of non-conforming products and building de- fects that is likely to top $6.2 billion to rectify. Inde- pendent research by Equity Economics labelled this figure conservative and said more than 3,400 apartment buildings in Australia have combustible cladding.
Construction is critical to the Australian economy as it represents around 11% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs almost 1.2 million people or just over 9% of the workforce.
It’s the reason why government and industry have moved quickly to overhaul Australia’s reg- ulatory environment with an agreement reached late last year to implement a new na- tional framework as a priority.
This national approach has expanded the role of the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB), which has created an implementation team of both government and industry representatives. They will oversee the introduction of a raft of changes under the National Construction Code (NCC). Fire Protection Association Australia (FPA Austral- ia) CEO, Scott Williams, said the reforms are a significant step forward.
“Building compliance is a national problem, and we congratulate the BMF on coming to- gether to agree to a national response,” he said. “The ABCB is absolutely the correct vehicle to drive that response, and its coordination will provide the leadership and stability needed to implement the major reforms required. The community’s trust in the building sector has been eroded, and there is a lot of work to be done to restore that by both industry and gov- ernment.” The ABCB has detailed the updates in NCC 2019 Volume One, Two and Three which can be downloaded online and information workshops will be held in every capital city dur-
BELOW; From Holyoake’s LF Series.
Holyoake products from the IBDFS Series undergo testing.
ing the months of March and April, 2020. While the building industry generally has been at the centre of the NCC reforms, there has been a particular focus on fire safety.
Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) direc- tor for NCC provisions, Graeme Moss, admitted the need to raise standards was overdue. He said the technical standards committee found there
“THERE WERE COMPANIES OUT THERE TRADING WITH PRODUCTS THAT ARE REALLY NO LONGER SUITABLE OR SAFE.”
- ABCB DIRECTOR, GRAEME MOSS.
were really old certificates out there and in some cases product testing had remained the same for too long. “There were companies out there trading with products that are really no longer suitable or safe,” Moss said. Even testing methods have come under scrutiny with a new testing verification method to be introduced on May 1, 2020. “Over time testing improves and there may be much greater accuracy; these fac- tors are critical when dealing with products that are being tested for things like fire resist- ance levels,” Moss said. “These updates can lead
to sub-standard products being removed from the market, which also means getting rid of companies that try to exploit testing loop- holes.” In the current climate, Moss said it is important to ensure products are safe and certificates are current. Referring to Aus- tralian Standard AS 1530.4. which applies to a range of fire safety products such as dampers, he said manufacturers and end us- ers need to act now. The deadline for this revised standard is May 1, 2022 “For anyone planning to install a product or undertake a project and NCC 2022 applies, check that compliance is current and up-to date,” Moss said. “For manufac-
turers, if you haven’t had your product tested in accordance with the standard you need to act immediately.” Some products may not need re- testing but this is unlikely as there are a num- ber of product categories where compliance with the new standard is virtually non-existent. For example, one of the few manufacturers of smoke and fire dampers that is compliant with Australian Standard AS 1530.4 is Holyoake Indus- tries. The company’s Australasian sales man- ager, Andrew Krake, said Holyoake’s complete fire protection series is fully compliant with AS150.4 2014 and this includes revised leakage provisions in NCC of 1001/s/m2@300pa for all smoke and fire products. “Our fire damper prod- ucts all offer a 240Min FRL compliance with fire test standards and surpass air leakage directives as nominated by the NCC. We can provide full and current certification with RIR Reports for each product,” he said. “The changes in the test standard made compliance extremely challenging for our engineers, which is why I think we are the only manufacturer in Australia to comply with the cur- rent test standard. Many of our competitors are still replying on the old test standard and dated cer- tifications but we have always maintained best practice approach to the fire protection products we bring to market.” Krake said Holyoake field calls every day from customers checking installation methods and certifications. “The market is fearful, cautious and wants to be reassured, right now it’s a little ambiguous because the new fire test standard won’t be mandatory for another 18 months, but the leakage requirements for those products designat- ed as smoke dampers is current,”he said.The Holy- oake fire protection series of manual or motorised smoke and fire dampers are designed to impede the spread of fire within buildings and provide suf- ficient time for safe occupant evacuation. Email sydney@holyoake.com
CLIMATE CONTROL NEWS
FEBRUARY 2020
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