NT Property Council’s Ruth Palmer has slammed changes to NT commercial building codes

An industry expert has slammed changes to commercial building codes in the NT, saying they’ll hit the hip pocket. See what the changes are.

The Property Council has joined with the Housing Industry Association to condemn a shift in the Territory’s building codes under the latest round of National Construction Code changes.

NT Property Council executive director Ruth Palmer described as “disappointing” the Territory Government’s “failure” to listen to industry concerns around how Section J energy efficiency changes would impact commercial building construction in the Top End.

Ms Palmer said the government had introduced more red tape to an industry riddled with a maze of regulations and the move could end up hurting NT residents financially.

Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics Minister Eva Lawler confirmed last week that the Territory would adopt National Construction Code Section J 2019 for all new non-residential buildings from October 1, 2023.

Ms Lawler said a cost-benefit analysis found savings of 13 per cent to 40 per cent were achievable, with a small increase in construction costs of between 1.3 per cent and 2.4 per cent.

Ms Palmer said the industry was particularly concerned at the Section J changes regarding window-to-wall ratios that could see smaller windows in the interests of better insulation.

Property Council NT executive director Ruth Palmer is not happy with changes to building regulations. Picture: Supplied.

“It’s disappointing that the department and Minister did not listen to industry concerns around the scope of introducing Section J and draconian window-to-wall ratios,” Ms Palmer said.

“These included exempting small commercial developments and existing buildings that had remained vacant for years.

“For existing vacant buildings, this sadly means that the additional cost burden for repurposing them has increased and they will likely remain vacant for years to come or until there is a business case for their complete demolition, which is unlikely in the short to medium term.

“For small developments, their commercial feasibility has been further eroded, due to limited scalability.”

Ms Lawler said the new building rules were more cost effective than current practices and Section J rules were already used at Zuccoli Primary School and Palmerston Regional Hospital.

She said the Territory was the only jurisdiction to not have adopted the Section J changes and the cost benefit analysis showed cost increases were modest.

“By adopting Section J, the construction industry will move to a code that significantly outperforms the current code and is, in fact, more cost-effective than current practices,” Ms Lawler said.

“The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics will work with industry to transition to the new code before it comes into effect in October 2023.”

Ms Palmer said Ms Lawler was underestimating the actual additional cost to commercial construction the changes would make.

NT Development Minister Eva Lawler has defended changes to residential building red tape. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

“The department and Minister are being disingenuous with their costs assessment of compliance,” Ms Palmer said.

“They are not using average costs, but the extreme lowest possible price, which on average will not likely reflect the real building costs to an average developer.

“Building costs have also significantly increased over the last year, due to inflation and supply chains.

“These building costs will ultimately be passed onto tenants, who in turn will seek to pass them onto their consumers.

“Increasing the costs of goods and services, compounding the existing costs of living pressures.

“We have real concerns as to the inopportune timing of the additional Section J mandated requirements and the negative follow-on impacts it will have to industry.

“The restrictive wall to window ratio will result in unattractive concrete boxes, which the public will no doubt simply blame property developers rather than the Building Code.

“The Northern Territory Government’s sloganeering around cutting red tape continues to ring hollow, as more and more red tape has been added by this Government’s than it has ever removed from the Property Industry.”

Section J rules were already used at Zuccoli Primary School and Palmerston Regional Hospital. Picture: Halikos Construction

Housing Industry Association chief executive Luis Espinoza has previously spoken about the impact of NCC changes on residential building cost and design.

Mr Espinoza said the cost of building a new home in the Territory could increase by up to $20,000 on the back of NCC changes.