Page 1279 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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ACTPLA should do the auditing, as it is the one that is responsible for other building matters, and it in fact does the auditing for plumbing and electrical work.
The situation is bad enough with respect to the integrity of the rating system, but unfortunately it is going to get more confusing. As I mentioned, the Building Code of Australia, which is the national code that we follow, mandates five-star energy efficiency, and at present it is measured by so-called first-generation software. The Building Code is mandating the use of new second-generation rating software as of 1 May 2009. After this time, we anticipate that the vendors of the first-generation software will no longer be offering support, training or even sales for their software. And the first-generation software will not run under Vista, which is the current version of the Windows operating system.
There is no doubt that the second-generation software is better software. However, it is more complicated to use, as it is more accurate. Unfortunately, as it is more accurate, in some cases the result you will get with the first-generation software will not be the same as the result you will get with the second-generation software.
One of the first things we have to do is to ensure that there are sufficient auditors available in the ACT who can use second-generation software by May 2009. ACTPLA’s view, as I quoted before, is that energy efficiency issues are enforced by the licensed building certifiers. So ACTPLA has not done anything, to my knowledge, to facilitate training in the second-generation software, and I have been told that there are only 30 ACT assessors who have undertaken the second-generation training. As I said, the new software will have to be used for all new buildings as this is mandated by the Building Code. However, the situation is not clear with respect to second-hand houses—in other words, houses which are being resold.
In February, the planning minister answered my question on notice in regard to the government’s intentions with respect to existing buildings by writing:
The energy rating report for the purposes of the sale of residential housing is a requirement of the Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act 2003. The Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act is an act administered by the Department of JACS with assistance provided by the ACTPLA with respect to the energy rating tools.
The ACT Planning and Land Authority will be consulting with the energy rating community in the first half of 2009 about the most appropriate rating tools for the purpose of EER.
At this time it is not proposed to change the rating tool for EER for the purpose of the Civil Law (Sale of Residential Property) Act when the BCA requirements for new building work commence in May 2009.
It is my understanding from that answer that the government would be consulting now about appropriate rating tools for existing buildings. I understand that ACTPLA wrote a discussion paper on this issue last year which, despite my asking for a copy of it, I do not believe has yet seen the light of day. I would have assumed that would have formed the basis of the consultation. However, contacts in the industry tell me this has
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