New cladding laws for private building owners

I WOULD be surprised if combustible cladding is a term you have never heard.

The tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 was a catalyst for the increased media focus on cladding, but it certainly was not the first event of its kind. Part 4A of Queensland’s Building Regulation 2006 was introduced by the Building and Other Legislation Cladding Amendment Regulation 2018.

It came into effect on October 1, 2018, and obligates owners of private buildings (as defined) to take steps to identify combustible cladding and the safety risks associated with it.

It represents Queensland’s approach to addressing this very serious and topical issue. There are four deadlines associated with the process of which private building owners should already be aware:

March 29, 2019 – buildings must be registered on the “Safer Buildings” website and complete the Part 1 Checklist, which will determine if the building is an affected building. May 29, 2019 – affected buildings to engage an appropriately qualified building industry professional to complete a statement answering technical questions about the building.

The statement must be uploaded and the Part 2 Checklist completed, to determine if the building remains an affected building.

August 27, 2019 – fire engineer to be engaged and registered on the system.

May 3, 2020 – upload building fire safety risk assessment and fire engineer statement and complete Part 3 Checklist.

There are penalties for non-compliance and the first deadline is fast approaching.

Until next week – Keep it Legal!

Katie Caldow
kcaldow@walkerpender.com.au

*The legal information in this article is of a general nature only and not intended to be legal advice to rely upon.