Over the last two years in particular, the construction industry has seen the development and introduction of new regulations to address serious issues identified in the Shergold/Weir Building Confidence report which focused on shortcomings in the implementation of the NCC and an assessment of the effectiveness of compliance and enforcement systems for building and construction standards.
The recent introduction of the new Design and Building Practitioners Act for instance, aims to ensure practitioners are registered and regulated, the designs for buildings abides by the BCA and that all building work done complies with those designs. What this means for design practitioners, is increased liability and thus the specification of compliant, fit-for-purpose products becomes key.
Changes drafted for NCC 2022 include, among other things, a whole new set of DtS clauses for weatherproofing, a likely response to the $1.4 billion in building defects associated with poor weatherproofing practices within the last decade alone.
In addition to this, the added level of complexity regarding insurance requires practitioners within the industry to secure adequate Professional Indemnity Insurance for both the work they undertake and to cover them for retrospective work they have completed.
Thus, what has become apparent from the various code and legislation changes is that never has testing, compliance, quality assurance and product performance been more important.
As we considered how these changes affect the way those within the industry operate, it has been important for us to continue to focus on education and knowledge transfer. Our desire to facilitate the efficient journey from project, to regulation, to compliant choices and finally, product selection led to the development of a research-driven, customer-focused website. In addition, as part of our commitment to ensuring peace of mind, we have developed and launched 360 VIEW – the deeply unique, quality control process to govern our rigorous approach to design and sourcing, material testing, regulatory compliance and product warranty.
Our Total Quality Control process starts and ends with customer satisfaction, which governs how we think, act and deliver from the design shop to the fabrication floor and from customer relations to product sureties.
In a time of great change and uncertainty, we have sought to offer clarity – combining inspiration, innovation and compliance in one platform to guide the simple selection and specification of high-quality, high-performance, stringently tested, regulatory complaint cladding solutions for the construction industry.