Page 6 - Climate Control News September 2019

News
Industry has welcomed
a national response to the building crisis.
NATIONAL FRAMEWORK
A new agreement by the Building Ministers Forum (BMF) to implement a national approach to reforms is a major step forward in addressing poor building outcomes and restoring community confidence.
The BMF has agreed to develop a national framework for the 'consistent' implementation of the Shergold Weir recommendations.
The new national approach will see an expanded role for the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) with consultation outcomes reported back to the BMF by September 2019.
Construction crisis to top $6.2 billion
THE COST OF REMEDIATION TO DEAL WITH AUSTRALIA'S BUILDING CRISIS COULD TOP $6.2 BILLION, ACCORDING TO INDEPENDENT RESEARCH CONDUCTED BY EQUITY ECONOMICS.
THE REPORT SAID this multi billion dollar bill to rectify defects in residential apartments across Australia is "conservative" as it only in- cludes buildings constructed in the past 10 years.
This figure can be expected to double when accounting for previous decades of construction, the report said.
Entitled 'Shaky Foundations: the National Construction Crisis’ the report was commis- sioned by the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).
It estimates more than 3,400 residential apart- ment buildings have combustible cladding. “In the medium term there will be the costs of reme- diation, estimated to be $6.2 billion and ultimate- ly a loss of confidence and therefore value in the nation’s biggest asset class,” the report said.
“The scale of failures in the construction in- dustry are staggering. Australia's construction industry has reached crisis point.”
The report said an estimated 1411 residential apartment buildings in NSW used potentially combustible cladding, including 95 "extreme risk" buildings. In Victoria, 1069 buildings have cladding, the report said. Of those, 72 have been deemed as extreme risk, and 504 are high-risk.
Construction in the Australian economy rep- resents around of 11% of Gross Domestic Prod- uct (GDP) and employs almost 1.2 million people or just over 9% of the workforce. “The impor- tance of property in this country becomes even more stark when we look at it from a wealth per- spective, where housing makes up roughly 61% of household net worth,” the report said.
“There are a variety of ways governments can help to ameliorate these impacts. This can include appropriate financial support such as the $600 million package announced by the Victorian Gov- ernment for removing combustible cladding.
“Such support can be justified by the tax revenues generated off-the-back of past ac- tivity and recognition that these property owners are victims of poor regulatory over- sight.” The total value of new apartment com- mencements in 2018-19 was $31.7 billion.
Revised Cert III course ready for delivery
A NATIONAL REVIEW of the Certificate III re- frigeration and air conditioning course has reached completion.
The final consultation closed last month after years of stalled starts and repeated delays.
The review was undertaken to address critical skill gaps in the Cert III course which has been unchanged since the year 2000 although stand- ards and technology have changed significantly during that time.
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Contrac- tors Association president (RACCA), Kevin O'Shea, said it will be good to see the package fi- nalised and delivered.
“It has been a long and slow process to get to this point but I must say that our Technical Advi-
sory Committee (TAC) has done a great job and has put in many hours of hard work,” he said.
“With the training package for our industry available for comment, I recommend all interest- ed parties check out the proposed refrigeration/ air conditioning section and have their say.”
Australian Refrigeration Council (ARC) tech- nical and training manager, Noel Munkman, said that it has taken a number of years for indus- try to agree on the necessary changes.
He said participants recognised the need to cover a number of new topics ranging from safe- ty, natural refirgerants and maintenance to con- trols and variable speed drives.
“The revised Certificate III will include the latest refrigerants and technologies,” Munkman said.
The revised course includes the latest refrigerants and technologies.
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