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Final submissions have been made by the Blind Manufacturers Association of Australia (BMAA) on behalf of the industry to address what it sees as flaws in the latest version of the National Construction Code (NCC).
The changes made in 2018 mean that technically any blind or awning fitted to any upper floor of Class 2 – 9 buildings does not comply. Class One buildings (single dwelling including detached house, terrace, town house or villa unit) were not impacted.
Chris Nolan, the former President of the BMAA, reported at the organisation’s Special General Meeting in December that the BMAA had addressed these changes to the code in two ways; lobbying for the code to be changed and developing a “performance solution” to enable members to win jobs.
“A detailed submission was made to the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) including a technical submission stating that the changes to the last code were unnecessary, and supported by a technical document from a fire engineer based on testing in a laboratory, together with a report on the effect on our industry to ascertain the financial cost of the changes,” Nolan said.
“An estimate of the losses associated with not getting the energy savings related to the blinds and awnings ($10M per annum) had also been lodged. All members of the ABCB had been contacted to explain
our case.”
“We have got a commitment from the CEO of the Building Codes Board that our submission to the committee will be considered, it may or may not go through. If it goes through fantastic, it makes the problem go away. Permanently. If it’s not, we do have a solution, or a solution, which is called a performance solution.”
The performance solution effectively means that if products are to be installed on the upper floors of multi-storey residential and other commercial buildings, each project needs to be assessed by a Fire Engineer and certified as presenting little or no fire risk.
The BMAA has worked with a national firm of Fire Consultants to develop a standard template for the “Performance Solution” which, provided a checklist is satisfied and the materials used comply with stringent results of AS 1530 part II and III fire tests, can be applied with delegated approval to these particular projects.
“The ‘Performance Solution’ process should be used to satisfy Certifiers and Body Corporates that the fire risk is ameliorated; however, there is no 100% guarantee that the certifier will accept the ‘Performance Solution,” Nolan added.
Nolan said that a performance solution could not be applied for after the project has been installed. The documentation and template is available from the BMAA office. The BMAA may also run a series of seminars to inform members in 2022 if there was enough interest.
