For more than 40 years NATSPEC has provide information to the Australian construction industry and today remains a not-for-profit organisation owned by government and industry.

Between 2006 to 2012 there were increasing reports of non-conforming products entering Australia including structural steel bolts, structural plywood products, copper pipe tubing, fire collars and glass sheets.

In recent years, there have been significant issues with electrical cable, combustible cladding used
inappropriately and products with asbestos.

Construction products have entered the Australian market with inadequate and/or false evidence of
conformance to applicable standards and regulations. This has affected the safety and construction quality of Australian buildings.

NATSPEC has received requests from Government departments and industry organisations to set up a register of construction products.

NATSPEC chief executive Richard Choy says they were approached because they are independent and impartial and because their key objective is to improve construction quality. This resulted in the Board of Construction Information Systems Limited directing the organisation to develop and maintain an on-line searchable National Construction Product Register database (NCPR).

Like other projects, including the National BIM Guide, the project is for the betterment of the industry as a whole.

The aim of the NCPR is to help the industry mitigate risk in a cost effective way.

It is intended to provide:

• Readily available verified information on conforming construction products.
• An increased awareness and understanding of the importance of conformity, by designers, specifiers, contractors and manufacturers.
• Improved safety for the Australian public.
• A freely accessible system for consultants and contractors to determine if a proposed substitute product has evidence, checked by NATSPEC, of conformity to Australian Standards.

The NCPR, expected to be launched before the end of the year, will be a voluntary system freely available to the industry. It will assist the construction industry support those companies that provide products that conform to
recognised Australian standards. Further, it will assist in those situations where substitution of products is necessary.

Plumbing (Watermark) and electrical (EESS) product databases will not be duplicated and NATSPEC intends to work cooperatively with the many Australian industry associations.

This initiative is supported by industry organisations including: Air Conditioning and Mechanical Contractors Association of Australia, Australian Institute of Building, Australian Institute of Building Surveyors, Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Consult Australia, Engineers Australia, Master Builders Australia and Standards Australia.