A Performance–Based Building Code in Use

Abstract

The trend in development of building codes has been to move away from prescriptive codes that describe a particular method that must be complied with, to performance–based or objective–based codes that describe the outcome or level of performance to be achieved. The development of the Building Code of Australia followed this trend, with a fully performance–based version of the code being released in 1996. An independent review of the Australian Building Codes Board, including the impact of the performance–based code was undertaken in 1999. This review reached conclusions about whether the code had met the expectations that were originally envisaged. The performance-based Building Code of Australia followed the ‘Nordic model’ of performance hierarchy, consisting of Objectives, Functional Statements and Performance Requirements. After 3 years of use of the code, and with a major review of how the code should develop in the future under way, the appropriateness of the Nordic model is being questioned. This paper identifies the experiences gained from use of the Building Code of Australia´s performance hierarchy, and factors associated with the regulatory environment that have the potential to influence its success. The code re–development process will be described and current thinking on changes to the performance hierarchy will be exposed. The results from the independent review of the performance–based code is reported here in.