On this page:
Key information
What is remedial building work?
Construction Issued Regulated Designs for remedial building work
Demarcation of an existing building from new remedial building work
How to lodge documents on the NSW Planning Portal
Auditing of remedial building work
Related links
Key information
- Remedial building work for classes 2, 3 and 9c is regulated under DBP legislation. A registered design practitioner must create a Construction Issued Regulated Design (CIRD), which is submitted on the NSW Planning Portal by a building practitioner.
- Emergency remedial building work is only considered under certain circumstances.
What is remedial building work?
Remedial building work is used as a broad term to define work involving:
- repair, maintenance, or upgrades on older buildings; or
- defect rectification or corrective actions on new buildings.
The Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (DBP Act) and Design and Building Practitioners Regulation 2021 (DBP Legislation) apply to remedial building work undertaken on class 2, 3 or 9c buildings (including mixed-use buildings with a class 2, 3 or 9c part) that is not an emergency.
The DBP legislation applies to remedial building work for class 2 from 1 July 2021. It will apply to class 3 and 9c from 1 July 2024.
Some remedial building work is excluded under the DBP legislation. Exempt development can be excluded under the DBP Legislation. This includes building work carried out under the State Environment Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008.
Waterproofing is an example where exempt development is not always excluded. It is only excluded if it meets certain criteria.
To find out if this applies to your building work, refer to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment fact sheet for remedial building work under exempt and complying development codes.
The process for complying with the obligations under the DBP legislation is different depending on the urgency of the remedial building work. This page explains the obligations for remedial building work that is not considered emergency remedial building work.
An example of remedial building work under the DBP Act that is not considered an emergency
The waterproofing membrane on the roof of a residential apartment building is damaged. Upon investigation, it is determined that a new waterproofing membrane is required for the whole rooftop (spanning multiple apartments) as the current membrane is at “end of life”. The owners corporation is in the process of obtaining a scope of work and quotations from contractors. Only minor water leakage has occurred.
As the water leakage is not serious in nature, is not preventing safe use of the premises and is not causing further water damage through the apartment building, the works would not be considered emergency remedial building work.
Is your remedial building work an emergency?
Remedial building work is only considered an emergency under certain circumstances and must meet four key criteria. Emergency remedial building work doesn't require regulated designs submitted on the NSW Planning Portal.
Construction Issued Regulated Designs for remedial building work
What detail is required on Construction Issued Regulated Designs (CIRD)?
The CIRD must contain the necessary detail to produce building work that would achieve compliance with the Building Code of Australia (BCA) and can be used by a building practitioner to carry out the work in accordance with the regulated design and the BCA.
A design practitioner can find information about the level of detail required in a CIRD in the Regulated Design Guidance Material (PDF). Additional details to those specified may be needed to produce CIRDs, depending on the specific site and nature of the building work.
Key requirements for a CIRD include:
- plans to identify the location of work;
- drawings at an appropriate scale that provide details specific to the remedial building work (e.g. sections, details, specifications),
- documentation to demarcate between the remedial building work and existing building (e.g. specifications, plans, drawings, pictorial representation);
- a schedule of materials or products, and;
- a specification to describe performance requirements.
The following information is also suggested for design practitioners when preparing CIRDs for remedial building work:
- ‘General elevations’ to identify the location of remedial work in the context of the overall building (e.g. the specific balconies or windows to be worked on), and/or
- ‘General sections’ to give context and measurements (unless sufficient details and measurements are provided in detailed construction sections).
These additional drawings may be produced as digital drawings, marked up photos, sketches or pictorial diagrams. Including this information is intended to benefit both practitioners and building owners.
Which class of design practitioner should prepare a CIRD?
The class of design practitioner required to produce regulated designs depends on the scope of the remedial building work. The design practitioner will have to determine if their class of registration and scope of authority will sufficiently cover the scope of remedial work and associated regulated design.
The scope of authority can be found in the DBP Act Schedule 1 Part 2 Description of work and Design Practitioner's Handbook.
Registered design practitioners in the class of architectural or structural engineering, with relevant experience and expertise, are authorised to prepare regulated designs for waterproofing work (internal and external). Registered design practitioners, in the class of façade, are authorised to prepare regulated designs for waterproofing of façades (external).
If the remedial building work is exempt development and includes waterproofing, does it require a CIRD by a registered design practitioner?
Waterproofing work will require a design practitioner to produce regulated designs unless it is specifically excluded by clause 13 of the DBP Regulation.
Waterproofing is only excluded if it meets each of the following conditions:
- It must be carried out as a result of alterations, to a bathroom, kitchen, laundry, or toilet; and
- The work, including the agreement to carry out the work, only relates to a single dwelling; and
- It must be exempt development.
These conditions have been included in the legislation to help support building owners by ensuring that waterproofing work is performed properly. Waterproofing defects can cause significant impacts to health and amenity of building occupants.
Demarcation of an existing building from new remedial building work
There are several scenarios where demarcation between an existing building from the new remedial building work should be made clear:
1. Demarcation of the existing building from remedial building work on CIRD
The CIRD needs to illustrate where remedial work is intended to be undertaken on an existing building. This can be achieved by producing sections, plans and elevations drawn to scale which clearly show the details of the specific remedial building work to be undertaken.
The design practitioner should use annotations in each design to clearly identify what elements of the design are part of the existing building and what relates to the remedial building work.
2. Existing buildings with current BCA non-compliances identified before building work commences
Where possible, if building elements can be sufficiently demarcated, the project can be planned in stages.
A design practitioner should consider whether it is possible to define a scope of work that does not interfere with the known non-compliance and therefore does not affect the integrity of the proposed remedial building work.
If a non-compliance is not resolved during the remedial building work and it potentially affects the health and safety of the building or its occupants, the design and building Practitioners have a professional responsibility to advise the building owner. It is prudent for all parties to seek resolution urgently to mitigate potential liability issues and comply with their professional conduct obligations.
Example: Balcony waterproofing
a) Balcony sliding door is non-compliant and there are no safety issues:
i. If the waterproofing can be designed to be compliant with the NCC and applicable standards without interfering with the balcony sliding door, there is no need to upgrade the sliding door.
ii. If the waterproofing design interferes with the balcony sliding door when meeting the NCC and applicable standards, the balcony sliding door must be upgraded to comply.
b) Balustrade is non-compliant and there are safety issues:
i. If the waterproofing can be designed to be compliant without interfering with the balustrade, the balustrade does not have to be replaced during remedial building work. However, it is important for the non-compliance to be documented in the CIRD and referred to the property owner for rectification. This ensure that all parties are aware of the safety issues and can take appropriate mitigation action.
ii. If the waterproofing design must interfere with the balustrade to be compliant, the balustrade must be upgraded to comply.
3. BCA non-compliances identified after building work has commenced
Owners corporations are encouraged to undertake thorough investigations prior to committing to a remedial project (e.g. testing, scanning, analysis) as it will reduce the potential for non-compliances and variations after commencement. Knowing more information about the building upfront assists the costing, planning and delivery of the remedial project.
If a remedial project has commenced and a non-compliance is identified, the design and building practitioners should first consider whether it is possible to continue with the current scope of work or whether it needs to be amended.
1. Work can continue unaffected
If work can continue unaffected, a design practitioner should reference the new information in a variation to the CIRD for lodgement by the building practitioner on the NSW Planning Portal. This provides transparency, evidencing how the issue has been considered by a design practitioner and highlighting that it will not impact the work of the building practitioner.
2. Work cannot continue due to impact to scope of work
If the non-compliance is likely to impact the current scope of work, then building work should stop until the design and building practitioners can agree with the building owner on an amended scope and produced a varied set of Construction Issued Regulated Designs.
It may be necessary for investigative work to be undertaken before an amended scope can be produced (e.g. slab scans, opening up works, destructive investigations) and to provide the building owner with sufficient information to make an informed decision about what action to take.
For example, the building owner could agree to remediate the non-compliance as part of the project (i.e. adding it into the scope as a variation). It may also be possible for the design and building practitioners to propose a different remedial solution that is not impacted by the issue (e.g. by making different product choices or re-scoping the work to demarcate from the affected area).
It could take time for the practitioners and building owner to determine the appropriate response to an issue that emerges during a remedial building work project. All parties must be aware that it is an offence under the DBP legislation for related building work to be performed without it being reflected in the CIRD.
How to lodge documents on the NSW Planning Portal
The building practitioner needs to lodge relevant documentation to the NSW Planning Portal for remedial building work.
The documentation that the building practitioner needs to provide includes:
- Construction Issued Regulated Designs (CIRD)
- Design compliance declarations
- Building compliance declaration and other documents including:
- contractor document;
- other documents required prior to applying for an OC.
Auditing of remedial building work
NSW Fair Trading has legislative powers to audit remedial building work projects to ensure that the work is being performed appropriately.
Authorised officers will focus on ensuring that design and building practitioners are registered and that design practitioners have produced a set of CIRDs with the necessary details to produce building work that will comply with the BCA. Remedial building work will also be inspected to ensure compliance with the BCA and relevant Australian Standards and other relevant Standards.
If the remedial building work is found to be non-compliant, compliance and disciplinary actions may be taken including:
- Education;
- Issuing formal warnings;
- Orders (Building Work Rectification Order, Stop Work Order, Prohibition Order);
- Financial penalties.
Learn about how we audit design and building practitioners who work on regulated buildings.