AS3959-2009 Construction of buildings in bushfire-prone areas
Submitted by rporteous on March 23, 2009 - 07:22
The Victorian state government published new regulations this month, the Building Amendment (Bushfire Construction) Interim Regulations 2009 in order to help facilitate the quick reconstruction of homes abd other structures in bushfire prone areas. These Regulations amend the (VIC) Building Regulations 2006 in relation to the construction requirements of certain classes of buildings that may be subject to the effect of bushfire. These include insertions of bushfire construction requirements and modification of Part G5 of the BCA.
In addition, the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) announced on Friday 6 March 2009 that it would incorporate the revised Australian Standard AS3959-2009, Construction in bushfire-prone areas in the 2010 edition of the Building Code of Australia.
The revised standards require extra construction measures to be built into new housing located in a designated bushfire-prone area, and this will only be necessary when an assessment of the housing made under the standard finds risks of bushfire attack to be at or above the prescribed threshold.
The revised standard, AS 3959-2009 Construction in bushfire-prone areas, is now available for sale at SAI Global. It includes improved ways to assess fire fuel loads, and revised ways to make the outside of houses resistant to ember, heat and flame attack.
