Australia is currently experiencing significant demand for new homes, with estimates suggesting over a million new homes will be needed by the end of the decade. To meet this demand, Australia has an ambitious national target of 240,000 new homes per year over five years, more than the current record of 219,479 completed homes in 2018.

As the industry builds rapidly for the future, it is critical that we remember the importance of building safety and building quality.

This year marks the inaugural International Building Safety Day (IBSD) on 22 May. IBSD is an opportunity to acknowledge the importance of building safety and the critical role played by practitioners who work in the construction industry.

“It is vital that Australia remains vigilant in our pursuit of building safety,” International Code Council (ICC) Oceania managing director Neil Savery says.

“It is also important that the designs and products used in buildings are up to standard, that construction workers are safe on the job, buildings are properly maintained, and our buildings are safe for all those who live, work, play and learn in them. To ensure this, competent and registered practitioners must be involved in the design, supervision and undertaking of building work.”

Neil adds that Australia has a strong building safety track record with many good practitioners and quality codes and standards.

“We should therefore acknowledge the work done by those committed to making sure our built environment is safe for us to enjoy,” he says.

“To achieve this, we need to promote a culture of compliance for practitioners by maintaining minimum levels of competency, effective monitoring and evaluation programs, and where necessary, enforcing the requirements of our codes and standards in building design, construction and use of products.”

IBSD also has the support of the International Building Quality Centre (IBQC), who provide global leadership in the development of best practice of building policy guidelines.

“The International Building Quality Centre wholeheartedly backs and endorses IBSD as a means by which the critical importance of safety in the built environments play for the global citizen can be reinforced,” IBQC chair Kim Lovegrove explains.

“A constant and relentless vigil must be maintained to ensure that building safety is a forefront preoccupation for all key actors in the building ecology and this annual event can serve as a paramount means by which this vigil can become and remain top of mind.”