Standardized Building Code

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In all but name, building codes have been present in the construction industry for thousands of years. They can be found as far back as 1700BC, when King Hammurabi declared that the builder was responsible for and structural failure that occurred (Remmer & Norton, 1981). In a somewhat biblical fashion, the builder received ‘An eye for an eye’ punishment. Codes of practice have vastly evolved, however are still an essential component of the industry. The construction industry relies on regulations, standards, and codes of practice to ensure safe buildings constructed to a quality standard. In short, they are there to protect consumers, and ensure peace of mind. If it were not so, buildings could potentially compromise user safety, with no repercussions …show more content…

It was at this time that several states (QLD, NSW, Vic, and SA) began to create a more standardised building requirements, where the assessments could be carried out by local governments. As stated in (Reference 1) the benefits of a standardised building code were being seen. It was in 1965 when the Interstate Standing Committee on Uniform Building Regulations (ISCUBR) was created. Essentially this was a joint effort between the States to standardise regulations. From this, Australian construction gained the Australian Model Uniform Building Code (AMUBC) in 1971. This was established to control both technical and administrative issues, however it was based on New South Wales constructions codes, and each State varied greatly from it to suit their own …show more content…

This was finally achieved in 1988 when the first edition of the Building Code of Australia (BCA) was introduced. The BCA slowly evolved, and by the early 1990’s all States and territories had accepted it. As agreed by the States, the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) was created in 1991 to evolve the BCA, so as to make the BCA more performance based. As stated in (Reference 1) the introduction of performance “…allows more flexibility and innovation in building design and construction… For the designer or builder…” It was in 1996 that the ABCB established the performance based BCA (BCA96). The commonwealth of Australia, most states and territories accepted it by 1997, with complete uniformity by the start of 1998. In 2003 the decision was made to update the BCA every year, and was named BCA 2005, BCA 2006 etc. (Reference 2). In 2011 it was decided to merge the BCA and the Plumbing Code of Australia (PCA) into a single code; the National Construction Code (NCC); uniting building and plumbing codes across

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