The Design and Building Practitioners Regulation 2021 is to be amended, with the changes coming into effect on the 1st of July 2023. The amending legislation expands the scope of the regulation to include buildings that are or contain Class 3 and/or Class 9c portions. As per the provisions that apply to Class 2 buildings under the existing legislation, the provisions relating to the following items will now also apply to buildings that are or contain Class 3 and/or Class 9c portions:
- Provide of Compliance Declarations for regulated design, including variations to designs.
- Provide of Building Compliance Declarations for building work.
- Submit Compliance Declarations and regulated design over the NSW E Planning Portal.
- Limitations on the ability of Registered Certifiers/Principal Certifiers to issue Construction Certificates, Complying Development Certificates and Occupation Certificates without the required declarations being submitted.
The legislation also brings into effect the requirements for Design and Building Practitioners and Professional Engineers to be registered with NSW Fair Trading in order to undertake Regulated Work involved in the design and construction of buildings that are or contain Class 3 and/or Class 9c portions.
Transitional Provisions
The amending legislation requires that any work that has commenced and has a Construction Certificate prior to the 3rd of January is not under the amended legislation, however if the component of building work does not have a Construction Certificate prior to the 3rd of July, then the amended legislation will apply to that component.
Where the work has the design prepared and has a Construction Certificate issued, but has not started work, a registered design practitioner still needs to review and issue a certificate in the approved form that the design complies with the requirements.
If a design that the legislation does not apply to is varied on or after July 3, however, the design needs to go through the regulated design process.
Other Amendments
This legislation also contains amendments relating to the following:
- exclude certain work from being building work and certain work from being professional engineering work,
- set out exemptions for class 3 or 9c building work if, before the commencement of particular provisions of this Regulation, certain building work has commenced, or designs for certain work have been prepared, and other conditions are complied with,
- provide for an additional ground for taking disciplinary action against a registered practitioner,
- amend provisions regarding work relating to Sydney Metro,
- extend alternative pathways for registration for design practitioners—fire system classes, professional engineers, and certain other design practitioners until 31 December 2023,
- insert a new class of design practitioner—building design,
- exempt registered building practitioners from insurance requirements under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 for an additional 12 months, until 30 June 2024,
- amend the qualifications, experience, knowledge and skills for certain classes of registration, and update CPD requirements for a particular pathway to registration,
- make amendments in relation to fees, including to provide the fees for a building practitioner—other classes, for registration under different pathways and for the variation of a registration to add an additional class, and make minor amendments to the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Regulation 2020.
For further information, please contact your McKenzie Group Consulting representative to understand how and where this legislation will apply to your project or contact us via marketing@mckenzie-group.com.au.
For information regarding how to register as a practitioner under this legislation, please refer to this link: https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/apply-design-practitioner-registration