In all but name, building codes have been present in the construction industry for thousands of years. They can be found as far back as 1700BC, when King Hammurabi declared that the builder was responsible for and structural failure that occurred (Remmer & Norton, 1981). In a somewhat biblical fashion, the builder received ‘An eye for an eye’ punishment. Codes of practice have vastly evolved, however are still an essential component of the industry.
The construction industry relies on regulations, standards, and codes of practice to ensure safe buildings constructed to a quality standard. In short, they are there to protect consumers, and ensure peace of mind. If it were not so, buildings could potentially compromise user safety, with no repercussions
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It was at this time that several states (QLD, NSW, Vic, and SA) began to create a more standardised building requirements, where the assessments could be carried out by local governments. As stated in (Reference 1) the benefits of a standardised building code were being seen. It was in 1965 when the Interstate Standing Committee on Uniform Building Regulations (ISCUBR) was created. Essentially this was a joint effort between the States to standardise regulations. From this, Australian construction gained the Australian Model Uniform Building Code (AMUBC) in 1971. This was established to control both technical and administrative issues, however it was based on New South Wales constructions codes, and each State varied greatly from it to suit their own …show more content…
This was finally achieved in 1988 when the first edition of the Building Code of Australia (BCA) was introduced. The BCA slowly evolved, and by the early 1990’s all States and territories had accepted it.
As agreed by the States, the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) was created in 1991 to evolve the BCA, so as to make the BCA more performance based. As stated in (Reference 1) the introduction of performance “…allows more flexibility and innovation in building design and construction… For the designer or builder…”
It was in 1996 that the ABCB established the performance based BCA (BCA96). The commonwealth of Australia, most states and territories accepted it by 1997, with complete uniformity by the start of 1998. In 2003 the decision was made to update the BCA every year, and was named BCA 2005, BCA 2006 etc. (Reference 2). In 2011 it was decided to merge the BCA and the Plumbing Code of Australia (PCA) into a single code; the National Construction Code (NCC); uniting building and plumbing codes across
The roots of Australian laws are similar to traditional Aboriginal laws, dating back to before the Norman Conquest in 1066, where each separate village had their own laws developed to their own customs. This changed however, after a centralized legal system was established after 1066. A common law was formed, that applied to all of England. This was later combined with equity law and mercantile law, which is the basis of Australian law today, known as ‘statute law’.
Since the dawn of time for a society to work it needs to have a level of structure that applies to everyone and is understood by everyone. Australian legal system is broad and complex. It is the nature of the encompassing laws and regulations which reflect how people, organisations and governments behave on the many different levels of operation and these are created to make sure that everyone understands their rights and obligations. There are two sources of Law in Australia: Statute Law regulated by Parliament and comprise of legislations and acts; and Judge-made Law or Common Law where decisions made by judges are based on previous cases.
...d to follow the approach of NSWCA, after considering the reasoning in Dao. Now it is consistent in this issue across NSW and Victoria.
At the commencement of European settlement, Australia inherited the system of land law that existed in England. Before the introduction of Torrens in 1875, a system of registration of deeds was in place in Western Australia. This is a system under which instruments relating to property transactions are recorded on a central register. In Western Australia, priority is decided according to the date of registration, and there is no stipulation concerning the bona fides or valuable consideration given by the...
The development of a national curriculum for Australia is not a new endeavour (Marsh, 2010). The ideal is that national curriculum across Australia would mean that students are provided with a quality education that helps to shape the lives of the nations citizens and continue developing the productivity and quality of life within Australia. The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] have the task of developing and implementing a nationwide curriculum. ACARA (n.d.-c) claims have addressed needs of young Australians while considering that changing ways in learning and challenges will continue to shape students education in the future. A look at what the Australian Curriculum is, its purpose, structure and scope, learning theories and teaching processes and whether the curriculum has the capacity to meet the needs of 21st century learners will show that the initial construction of a national curriculum appears to be successful. However, the effectiveness of the Australian Curriculum will only be able to be evaluated in the future after implementation across the country.
...f] Queensland: Queensland Law Reform Commission. pp. 2 - 20. Available through: QLD Government http://www.qlrc.qld.gov.au/wpapers/wp37.pdf [Accessed: 2 Mar 2014].
The Australian Curriculum is organised in a few different ways. There are two main design elements, Curriculum content (what the teacher is to teach) and Achievement standards (what the student is to learn). There is also Reporting Framework which incorporates elements of both areas. These elements were designed to provide guidelines as to what would be included in the Australian Curriculum. The Curriculum Content is organised into categories (strands), and are presented with descriptions to report and describe what is to be taught at each year level. Together, these descriptions form the scope and sequence across all covered years of schooling (Foundation to Year Ten). The areas of study covered in each year build upon the previou...
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is one of Australia’s largest financial institutions. Headquartered in Melbourne, CBA holds 25.5% of the overall banking market share and owns notable industry brands, Aussie Home Loans and Bankwest (Wu, 2016). The CBA employees 51,800 people in 11 different countries and generated an impressive $9,981 million dollar net profit for the 2017 financial year (Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2017a). On the 3rd August 2017, AUSTRAC, Australia’s financial intelligence agency, commenced civil proceedings against CBA for contravening the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CT) Act 2006 (AUSTRAC, 2017a). AUSTRAC claim that CBA failed to comply with the AML/CT Act (2006), on 53,700 occasions (AUSTRAC, 2017a).
In Australia, the Australian Curriculum and Reporting authority (ACARA) has developed national curriculum and guidelines to be adhered to by all educational entities and teachers from years K – 12.
Bloy, Marjie. “Victorian Legislation: a timeline.” 13 August 2002. The Victorian Web. 14 Mar 2005. http://www.victorianweb.org/history/legistl.html
A set of written guidelines and regulations issued by regulatory bodies or professional associations which serve as a guide to acceptable practices and explain how people working in a particular profession would react in order to comply with required professional and ethical standards of the enterprise. Codes do not normally have the force of law. However, violating a code of practice in any profession may have legal consequences.
Are there limits to an architect’s ethical or legal responsibilities in a building process where architecture plays an increasingly smaller role? Is preservation a moral imperative? Can an architect works with international clients living within the boundaries of repressive or aggressive regimes? Where does an architect draw the line between his responsibilities to the client and to the community served?
Authorities have attempted to implement codes or regulations, but that has proved to be very difficult tasks becasue there are many variables that effect the dynamic response of buildings. One way to try to avoid disaster is to evaluate seismic risk is to look at a buildings hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and location. Hazards are, for example, landslides ad soil type. Exposure is a building's occupancy and function. Vulnerability is the expected performance of a building's system, and location is how often earthquakes occur in the area. (Lagorio)
“Architects plan, design, and observe construction of facilities used for human occupancy and of other structures” (The Top 100: The Fastest-Growing Careers for the 21st Century, Fifth Edition 27). In 2010, 2 percent of U.S employment, about 2.3 million people, possessed jobs in architecture and engineering. The majority of architects tend to be civil architects, with about 249,120 workers, followed by mechanical and industrial engineers (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2). Architects have to design buildings that satisfy their clients and protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Architects need to take aspects into consideration such as climate, soil, state building regulations, zoning laws, fire r...
Today's problems are more complex and the needs of current and future societies have created challenges for engineering unparalleled in our history. The use of electronic data collection methods and the application of computers has revolutionized the practice of Civil Engineering. To interpret and satisfy these needs, Civil Engineers currently direct the spending of more than one tenth of Canada's gross national product, more than any other professional group. The Civil Engineer must deal with the human impact of engineering. Social, moral and legal issues concern us to a far greater degree than ever before.