Submission to Building Professionals Act 2005 Discussion Paper From: Amer Magrabi

Submission to Building Professionals Act 2005 Discussion Paper from: Amer Magrabi

My comments mainly relate to Alternative Solutions and Fire Safety Engineering

Several aspects in the Discussion Paper are supported with the following suggestions:

· Alternative Solutions should be fully evaluated, documented and maintained.

· The general perception that Alternative Solutions lead to increased building defects is incorrect in our opinion. Building defects occur irrespective of whether the building is Deemed-to-Satisfy compliant or subject to Alternative Solutions. More defects are identified and rectified in Alternative Solutions projects due to the level of scrutiny and involvement of higher qualified accredited certifiers (i.e. C10 – Fire Engineers and A1 – Certifiers). Most Deemed-to-Satisfy compliant buildings fall below the radar as C10, A1 or other approval authorities (e.g. Fire Brigades are not involved).

· Proposed Alternative Solution legislation should consider Australian Building Code Board (ABCB) broad objectives to allow more performance-based design under the future building codes.

· The certifier should confirm that the fire engineering report contains all required information and that it adequately demonstrates compliance with the BCA Performance Requirements. This includes the certifier clearly identifying and documenting deviations from the BCA requiring Alternative Solutions.

· Accreditation of suitably qualified and experienced persons for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of all components of buildings including fire safety systems.

· Incorporate the International Fire Engineering Guidelines as a mandatory reference document for fire safety related Alternative Solutions.

· Clarification of the role of the certifier which will require further resolution.

· Remove the mandatory requirement for Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) to provide comments on Fire Engineering Briefs (FEB) and Fire Engineering Reports (FER).

· An independent peer review system is preferred in lieu of independent certification. The independent certification system (i.e. Part 4A compliance cerifitificates under the EPAA Regs) previously introduced by the BPB was unworkable and not supported by Industry including Consult Australia resulting in a legislative amendment.

· Review Fire Brigades fee structure for Clause 144 and Clause 188 referrals.

· The role of FRNSW should be refocussed on matters relating to fire-fighting, search and rescue, and other matters that affect fire brigade intervention. This is due to the lack of specialist capabilities and qualified fire engineering resources within FRNSW to undertake their legislated role in the approval process under Clause 144 of the EP&A Regulation 2000 to review Fire Engineering Reports.

An alternative system is proposed for certain complex matters only. The system should provide the certifier with an option of referring a Fire Engineering Briefs (FEB) and Fire Engineering Reports (FER) to one of the following:-

1. FRNSW (current system).

2. Independent Peer Review (accredited individual or company).

3. Independent Peer Review Panel (new group of accredited certifiers including a private certifier, a fire engineer, and an individual with fire fighting experience).

The alternative system should only relate to certain complex matters which should be further developed and agreed upon by all relevant stakeholders. Such matters may include fire safety engineering relating to the following:-

· Large infrastructure projects.

· Buildings over 25m in effective height.

· Assembly buildings containing more than 1000 occupants.

· Buildings containing an atrium which connects more than 3 storeys.

· Buildings where the main structure is of exposed steel or timber in lieu of a designated fire resistance level.

The system briefly described above should be further developed to ensure that it provides greater efficiency to the current system and results in a higher quality of fire safety engineering, therefore providing a benefit to the community.

Should you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanking you

Sincerely

Amer Magrabi