Inspector Bernie Cinders of the NSWFB
A consent application to the fire brigade for a building permit is a regulation 309 consent in Victoria, Australia
This issue causes some consternation (maybe heart burn) amongst building surveyors, probably depending upon whether they regularly apply to the fire brigades for consents for fire safety matters or not? Some building surveyors point to Schedule 2 of the Building Act 1993 and rely on interpretations about the relevant building surveyor (RBS) “making” the application, others interpret the schedule to the contrary.Unless exempted by this Schedule, the relevant building surveyor must give a copy of an application to each reporting authority within the prescribed time after the application is received by the relevant building surveyor (Clause 4 sub-clause 2 of Schedule 2). The relevant building surveyor need not obtain a report or consent from a reporting authority(Clause 5 sub-clause 3 of Schedule 2).
This particular clause goes on to deal with the applicant for the permit applying for the consent. So which way you see it relates to whether it’s design or not? Perhaps this is all a bit academic – so let’s consider a possible scenario:
- Your building surveyor prepares and applies for a regulation 309 consent.
- The Building Act says (in subclause 2 of Schedule 2) “In deciding an application, the relevant building surveyor must implement the recommendations of a prescribed reporting authority in relation to a prescribed matter.”
- Then the Building Act says: “Except as provided in subclause (2), the relevant building surveyor is not required to implement any of the recommendations in a report by a reporting authority.”
- So in response the fire brigade provides recommendations which are not related to the fire safety matters applied for e.g. the recommendations may relate to OH&S, dangerous goods etc.
- If the building surveyor now decides, to your design’s benefit, not to require those recommendations to be implemented in the design he or she has both prepared the application and made the decision as to what is to be required in the approval for compliance.
- Then, for argument’s sake the fire brigade appeals to the Building Appeals Board (BAB).
- In the appeal the Chairperson of the Panel of the BAB turns to the RBS and says ” So you prepared the application for consent, as part of the design, and then approved not adopting some of the recommendations for issue of a building permit for that design?” Rhetorically speaking the chair person might just be thinking so who are you in this matter Mr/Ms/Mrs RBS the agent of the owner or the independent decision maker / umpire?
Is seems like a possible (maybe actual) conflict of interest? Better to get the Hydraulics Consultant / Fire Services / Fire Safety Engineer make the application to the fire brigade. Better to have a building permit for the benefit of your client that can be legally relied on with confidence.
Tags: Building Act 1993, Building Regulations, fire brigades, Regulation 309 consent
Yeah, this seems like a situation where one needs their “ducks in a row”.