The Victorian delegation, led by the Chief Executive Officer and Commissioner of the VBA, Anna Cronin, discussed how the NSW building industry is regulated through strong legislative powers to audit the designs and building work of residential homes, apartments, boarding houses, and aged care.
The Commission also detailed its use of disciplinary action like Stop Work and Building Work Rectification Orders used to better protect owners and occupiers from inheriting serious defects.
The delegation also included a site visit to a Class 2 residential apartment project in Rosebery and an insight into the Commission’s newly released Defects Library, which is designed to help developers, builders, and certifiers spot issues earlier and build capability across the industry.
The visit provides the opportunity for the leading authorities to share research and intelligence on areas like defects and costs to fix, regulation success and industry pressures and trends.
This delegation follows the successful cooperation between both agencies in 2022 when the VBA shared details of its flammable cladding program which informed NSW’s efforts to replace the flammable material under Project Remediate.
More information on the regulation of the NSW and Victorian building industries can be found on Building Commission NSW and Victorian Building Authority websites.
Quotes to be attributed to NSW Building Commissioner, David Chandler:
“Building Commission NSW is committed to working with all government agencies to learn and share best practices to uplift developers, builders and certifiers with nation-leading regulation,”
“By sharing what we know and being open to listen to our fellow regulators, we can adapt to trends and make more informed decisions on our mission to improve industry compliance, protect consumers and pioneer nation-leading regulation,”
“The Commission has previously worked with the Victorian Building Authority to great success, and we are excited to open the door to ongoing cooperation and extend the invitation to collaborate with other regulators.”
Quotes to be attributed to Chief Executive Officer and Commissioner of the Victorian Building Authority, Anna Cronin:
“It’s important the VBA maintains strong and productive relationships and shares data and trends with our fellow regulators so we can improve the building system in Victoria. There’s a lot to learn from how other regulators operate and today was a great opportunity to see how building regulation is done in NSW and how the regulator deals with non-compliance
“The visit was particularly useful given that the VBA’s own reforms are clearly focussed on improving consumer outcomes. “During this visit, I shared insights from our new regulatory policies, details about our risk-based approach to responding to non-compliance and disciplining rogue practitioners and findings from our research program.”
