The National Construction Code (NCC) is an initiative of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), which has been developed to incorporate all on-site construction requirements into a single code. The NCC introduced in May 2011 comprises the three parts: the Building Code of Australia (BCA), Volume One and Two; and the Plumbing Code of Australia (PCA) as Volume Three.
All three volumes are performance-based documents allowing options to achieve compliance, including compliance with the Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions, the flexibility of developing Alternative Solutions based on existing or new innovations, efficiencies or other benefits, or a combination of both.
The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) released the first performance-based Building Code of Australia, (BCA96) in October 1996. BCA96 was adopted by the Commonwealth and all states and territories by early 1998. In 2004 the BCA96 was amended to become BCA 2004 and from this point onwards the BCA has been re-released on an annual basis for purchase by industry.
The current edition, BCA 2014, will remain in place until BCA 2015 comes into effect on 01 May 2015. However, from 2016 onwards the BCA will move to a three yearly amendment cycle which is intended to make it easier for industry to maintain current and up to date with the BCA requirements. This is also expected to lead to greater consistency in building regulations across the states and territories by limiting the frequency and number of variations. It will also provide more certainty and stability to the building regulatory system in Australia.
All future editions of the NCC / BCA commencing with the NCC 2015 will be made available for free On-line. This is expected to see an increase use and awareness of the BCA, given that access to the code is now free and not hundreds of dollars per year (as previous editions have been).
ABCB will no longer offer the NCC for purchase in printed hard-copy, though we understand that it will be available through third party resellers, including the Housing Industry Association.
Please note that this level of access only provides access to the NCC and not the numerous Australian Standards referenced within the documents. Australian Standards can be purchased via SAI Global.
Pre-registration for NCC on-line access commenced on 1 December 2014 and from 1 February 2015 registered users have had access to a free preview of NCC 2015 (both on-line and in a downloadable PDF version) prior to its adoption date of 1 May 2015. To register for access to the new on-line and free NCC 2015 visit https://services.abcb.gov.au/NCCOn-line/Account/Register
Check the following post to see what Changes to the Access Provisions of Building Code of Australia 2015
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