In accordance with the Australian Building Codes Board’s (ABCB) Protocol for NCC Referenced Documents, Standards Australia’s technical committee FP-020 has developed an early-stage analysis of the impacts associated with draft changes to AS 3959, Construction of buildings in bushfire-prone areas in the form of a draft Preliminary Impact Analysis (PIA).

The ABCB’s PIA process is a requirement to make changes to documents referenced by the National Construction Code (NCC). AS 3959 is a current referenced document in NCC Volumes One and Two. The PIA requires the identification of the nature and extent of the problem, consideration of all feasible options that address the problem, and a cost-benefit analysis of all options considered. Also, it will be used to support the proposal to reference when considered by the ABCB’s Building Codes Committee.

Standards Australia is seeking responses from all interested parties on the ‘Consultation Questions’ contained in the PIA. This will assist in establishing the nature and extent of the problem and the likely impacts of Option 2. See PIA below.

Responses to the questions are invited until 22 November 2017 and can be emailed to Damith Rupasinghe, Project Manager at Damith.Rupasinghe@standards.org.au. All responses will be used to inform the final PIA.

The public comment process remains subject to Standards Australia’s public commenting procedures. Access the AS 3959 draft and submit comments through our Public Comment portal. All comments must be received by 22 November 2017.