NSW industry updates 19 April 2023
By Deborah Lockart, Vice President ACRA NSW Sub Branch
ADVOCACY Update | Strata-Remedial Government consultation
Our focus this year is to finalise numerous pieces of work with Government through our Strata-Remedial consultation work. The success of this work relies heavily upon strong communication and ensuring that our good work is distributed and shared with those impacted.
Advocacy Team presents to ACRA, March 2023
Thank you to the members who attended our presentation on Friday 17 March 2023. We have appreciated your feedback about our work. I especially appreciated meeting you in person and look forward to our next get-together.
Click here for the link to our presentation.
I anticipate that we will plan another similar networking opportunity later in the year when we have more to share.
Strata Community Association (NSW) webinar, April 2023
Helen Kowal and I joined Matt Press, Stephen Brell and Caroline McConnachie at last week’s SCA NSW fortnightly webinar, in communicating our consultation work. There were upwards of 600 strata managers who attended the webinar.
Our presentation focused on the Design and Building Practitioners Act (DBP) and the recently published Emergency Remedial Building Work Fact Sheet.
Our current focus is sharing this work and communicating with Strata Managers and Owners Corporations in supporting their understanding of the DBP and emergency remedial building work. This will only make our remedial work easier when our customers understand the regulatory space we now operate.
Click here for the link to our presentation.
Exempt development – remedial matrix
This is probably our most important work at present. With the government’s ‘shift in thinking’ and commitment to resolving the issues, we are hoping that by June 2023, the Government will issue a Fact Sheet, clarifying Exempt development for the Remedial industry.
In the meantime, it is important for owners corporations to do their due diligence. The State Environment Planning Policy 2008 (Codes SEPP) is complex and every project has different requirements. Owners corporations should always seek independent advice for each project from appropriately qualified professionals in assessing whether their remedial project is classified as exempt development or not.
Whilst we await the Fact Sheet, Government has provided the following for our members to contact:
Codes Hotline 1300 420 596 or email codes@planning.nsw.gov.au
Planning Portal and approvals pathway
I hope the following makes sense, as it has taken me some months to really understand the exact issues we are experiencing, to then identify with Government where the problem sits.
Through my work with numerous building practitioners and in providing portal training, training is required for NON-EXEMPT remedial Class 2 projects. Over the past 12 months, the biggest issue has been the difficulties experienced by practitioners in accessing project data and uploading regulated designs and compliance declarations etc for remedial Class 2 projects where a CDC/CC is required.
The problem as I see it is that the incorrect ‘portal profile’ is being used to upload/initiate projects where an approvals pathway is required. Historically building consultants/certifiers have used the ‘Applicant’ profile; however, the Portal profile that the Government has set up for non-exempt remedial Class 2 projects is the ‘Developer’ profile.
For me the real issue is who should take on the ‘Developer’ portal profile and manage the portal application [owners corporation; strata manager; building consultant; principal contractor; other consultant.
The ‘Developer’ profile [as defined in the RAB Act 2020, Section 4] provides the interface for the owners corporation to initiate non-exempt development work, and provides access for the related certifier/building consultants and building practitioners in their meeting regulatory requirements.
The ‘Developer’ profile allows the CDC/CC application to be lodged; intention to commence work to be submitted; building works commencement and intention to seek OC to be submitted; uploading of regulated designs to occur etc.
Government is developing learning resources for the remedial industry, and I am hoping that we can run some webinars when this material is ready. I will keep you posted. There is more work to do here.
Emergency remedial building work FACT SHEET
It is important to understand the Government’s definition of emergency remedial building work.
Please click here for:
