In the media
Construction slump intensifies, home building in
sharpest slide since 2012
The broad-based decline in construction activity,
especially apartment building, is now hitting jobs and becoming a
serious drag on the economy (7 February 2019). More...
AHURI: Treat social housing as essential infrastructure
to attract greater investment
With growing interest from Government in attracting
investment into social housing, new AHURI research has developed a
persuasive and credible case for social housing to be treated as a
form of essential infrastructure, in order to create a viable basis
for private investment (6 February 2019). More...
Black Saturday: Bushfire planning as our population
grows
Bushfire planning around our expanding urban environments
is crucial for dealing with Australia’s increasing bushfire
risk. While significant advances have been made since 2009 in urban
planning and building, many challenges remain, including houses
built to meet building standards (6 February 2019). More...
Beyond Opal: A 10-point plan to fix the residential
building industry
Planning policies embraced by the NSW and Victorian
governments mean a greater percentage of new housing is being
constructed in tall multi-unit developments than ever before,
particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. Between 50 per cent and 80
per cent of multi-unit buildings have defects serious enough to be
the subject of strata committee involvement (5 February 2019).
More...
Cladding fires expose gaps in building material safety
checks
A fire at the Neo 200 apartment building in Spencer
Street, Melbourne has highlighted the risk to human safety from
flammable cladding and other non-conforming building products.
Building quality and safety are compromised when there is no
transparency about the products used (5 February 2019). More...
MBA: New apartments see weakest result since
mid-2012
The volume of new apartment building is smaller than at
any time since July 2012, according to Master Builders
Australia’s Chief Economist Shane Garrett. Just released
figures from the ABS show that new home building approvals lost
another 8.4% during December 2018 (4 February 2019). More...
Doorstop – Building Ministers’ Forum, Hobart
The Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, the Hon Karen Andrews MP held a doorstop to discuss the Building Ministers' Forum (8 February 2019). More...
Building Ministers’ Forum communique
The Building Ministers’ Forum (BMF)
met in Hobart to discuss progress with priority issues relating to
the safety of Australian buildings, and public confidence in the
building and construction industry (8 February 2019). More...
Biggest overhaul of building laws in New South Wales
following Opal
Plans to overhaul the New South Wales building and
construction sector are underway with new reforms the state
government says will ‘shake up’ the way high-rise
towers are regulated (11 February 2019). More...
Published - reports, papers, speeches
A conceptual analysis of social housing as
infrastructure
Kathleen Flanagan, Chris Martin, Keith Jacobs, Julie
Lawson
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute: 6 February
2019
This study into the role of social housing as essential
infrastructure assessed evaluation tools and techniques needed to
enable investment by government. More...
Australian Bureau of Statistics
04/02/2019 Building Approvals, Australia, Dec 2018
(cat no. 8731.0)
In practice and courts
What to expect from the National Construction Code (NCC)
2019
The Australian Building Codes Board
(ABCB) recently gave consideration to the content
of the 2019 edition of the NCC. NCC 2019 will be available for
public preview in February 2019 and will be adopted from 1 May
2019. Some of the key changes from the 2016 edition are described
here (30 January 2019). More...
ABCB: Preview NCC 2019
All three volumes of the NCC 2019 preview, as well as The
Guide to Volume One, are now available to download. To get a
copy, log into your NCC account through the NCC
Online or create your NCC
account and login to access. NCC 2019 will be adopted from
1 May 2019. If you’d like an overview of the key changes and
dates, please check out the latest ABCB Connect article (1 February 2019).
Combustible cladding registration due 22 February
2019
Under the new Regulations, owners of certain buildings
with external combustible cladding are required to register their
building with the NSW Government through the Cladding Registration
portal. The deadline for registration is 22 February 2019. Owners
of new buildings will be required to register their building within
four months of the building first being occupied. More...
Cases
Hamed v Borg
[2019] NSWCATAP 38
APPEAL – Home building – where parties
contracted for construction of granny flat – where builder
installed water tank on pavers - where tank fell over causing
damage – whether Tribunal’s decision that builder not
responsible for collapse of tank was legally unreasonable –
whether decision was against the weight of evidence due to the
Tribunal’s failure to give a plumber’s report any
weight - whether Tribunal failed to have regard to relevant
considerations or critical evidence when failing to consider plans
– whether appellant should be permitted to raise a new ground
of appeal at the hearing.
Edgewater Homes Pty Ltd v
Donohoe [2019] NSWSC 44
The plaintiffs’ release of the second to eighth
defendants released the first defendant from the plaintiffs’
claim for breach of fiduciary duty but not their claim for breach
of contract.
EQUITY – Fiduciary duty – release by beneficiary of
parties who allegedly knowingly received fruits of breach of
fiduciary duty and who allegedly were knowingly involved in the
breach – whether defaulting fiduciary also released.
CONTRACT – Inducing breach of contract – whether
release of parties who allegedly induced breach of contract also
released party allegedly in breach of contract.
Mr Donohoe’s responsibilities as Building Manager was to
approve the payment of invoices rendered to Edgewater by
contractors who supplied goods and services to Edgewater.
Vella v Mir
[2019] NSWCATAP 28
(1) The appeal is allowed in part.
APPEAL – Home building – definition of major defect
– limitation defence or jurisdictional issue – s 18F
defence – Jones v Dunkel inference.
Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013; Civil and
Administrative Tribunal Rules 2014; Home Building Act
1989.
Mo v ABC Homes NSW Pty
Ltd [2019] NSWCATAP 16
CONTRACT INTERPRETATION – Fresh evidence on
appeal.
Civil and Administrative Tribunal Rules 2014; Civil and
Administrative Tribunal Act 2013.
The Decision concerned two applications: one brought by the
appellant (the homeowner) and the other, an application brought by
the respondent to the appeal (the builder). Both applications were
dismissed.
Castillo v Presmist Formwork
Contractors Pty Ltd [2019] NSWDC
6
TORTS – Occupier’s liability – injury to
labour-hire employee on defendant’s building construction
site – plaintiff’s claim of negligence on the part of
the defendant – defendant’s claim of contributory
negligence on the part of the plaintiff – defendant’s
claim of notional negligence of plaintiff’s employer –
issues to be determined according to provisions of Civil
Liability Act 2002 and s 151Z(2) of the Workers
Compensation Act 1987.
DAMAGES – Assessment of claimed heads of damage.
Simmonds v Rust; Rust v
Simmonds [2018] NSWCATCD
75
BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION – Home building -
contracts – standard form HIA NSW Residential Building
Contract for New Dwellings – payment of progress claims -
suspension of work - notices of breach - termination - cost to
complete – defective work.
Booth v Langlands Building
Group; Langlands Building Group v Booth
[2018] NSWCATCD 73
Principal judgment.
Sydney Building Defects
Inspections and Reports Pty Ltd v Thomas
[2018] NSWCATCD 65
COSTS – Absence of special circumstances.
Legislation
New South Wales
Regulations and other miscellaneous instruments
Workers Compensation Commission Rules 2011 -
Amendments (2019-16) - published Gazette No 3 of 18 January
2019, n2019-92.
This publication does not deal with every important topic or change in law and is not intended to be relied upon as a substitute for legal or other advice that may be relevant to the reader's specific circumstances. If you have found this publication of interest and would like to know more or wish to obtain legal advice relevant to your circumstances please contact one of the named individuals listed.
