ASGA seeks to influence the NCC around proposed Fire Regulation changes

Discussions are currently taking place between The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) and stakeholders to determine the next release of the National Construction Code (NCC).

The most contentious of relevant topics to NCC members are the rulings around combustible cladding on buildings. The current rules have led to tighter restrictions on acrylic materials and ACM, which has affected the industry.

Glen Hain has been attending these talks as the ASGA representative seeking to influence the code in the future. One of the targeted areas is the use of Self Adhesive Vinyl in flammable situations.
At present, Building Surveyors must consider any SAV applied to materials, no matter how small or thin the material is. Therefore, ASGA has proposed that the following be accepted into the NCC.

(e) C1.9 Non-combustible building elements

(iv) Pre-finished non-combustible sheeting having a combustible surface finish not exceeding 1 mm thickness and where the spread-of-Flame Index of the product is not greater than 0.
 
To meet this proposed standard, you would need two things to be true:

The building element must be non-combustible.

– Non-combustible items are things like steel, aluminium, glass, concrete.

– i.e. you may apply a SAV to a sheet of aluminium and install that to a building. It's the aluminium sheet that is being referred to here.

The building material may have a surface finish that is combustible.

– So long as the surface finish is not more than 1mm thick. i.e. paint, SAV etc

– and the "Spread of Flame index" of the finish is less than 0. (Manufacturers would need to provide this test data and, in many cases, they will already have this)

The consultation period is still open with no guarantee that the ABCB would accept the proposal. It's a small change but one that is very important to the industry. ASGA hopes the ABCB will adopt its changes.