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NSW Fire Safety – Construction Certificate changes for multi-storey buildings

03/02/2023

The NSW Government has amended fire safety legislation that commences 3 February 2023 covering changes to the issuance of a Construction Certificate in multi-storey buildings and the applicable Building Code of Australia edition to assess compliance of the design against.

 The relevant legislation Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Amendment (Construction Certificates) Regulation 2023 will amend the following legislation:

  • Environmental Planning and Assessment (Development Certification and Fire Safety) Regulation 2021 (EP&A (DCFS) Regulation); and
  • Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 (EP&A Regulation).

 What are key changes?

Construction Certificate (CC) BCA edition assessment for multi-storey buildings where multiple CCs apply; the ‘entrance floor’ CC application will now control the ‘relevant date’ and the applicable BCA edition nominated for subsequent CCs to that building, under the same development consent for building work involving the ‘entrance floor.’ EP&A (DCFS) Regulation Section 19 defines that:

 Relevant Date, the day on which the application for the construction certificate was made, or if the building is a multi-storey building and a construction certificate has been issued under the same development consent for building work involving the entrance floor – the day on which the application for that construction certificate was made.

 Entrance Floor, of a multi-storey building, means the floor of the building containing the principal pedestrian entrance.

The Principal Certifying Authority will nominate the edition of the BCA as information on the construction certificate that will apply to all CCs, based on the BCA edition applicable to the ‘entrance floor’ CC application defined as the ‘relevant date.’

Please refer to the NSW Legislation notifications website for copies of the Amending Regulation.

Should you have any questions or just wish to find out more about built environment NSW legislation do not hesitate to contact [email protected]