PLANNING 7. Residential Infill Development This chapter contains the BPM’s which apply to the construction, alteration or addition of a dwelling on BFPL. Key Points: •Contains requirement for APZ’s, access, water supply, construction standards, landscaping and emergency management. •Emergency management plans are required for short-term rental accommodation and home-based child care. •This chapter also contains the construction requirements which differ from Australian Standard 3959 – Construction of buildings in bushfire prone areas (AS 3959). Effectively construction requirements for floors, walls, decks, steps, ramps, landings, timber supports, beams and posts for BAL-12.5 and BAL-19 are lifted to BAL-29 requirements. •It should also be noted that, thanks to HIA lobbying, these construction requirements will be noted directly in NCC 2019 NSW variations, which will help to reduce non-compliances due to the fact that previous versions of the BCA 8. Other Development A BUSHFIRE DESIGN did not reference PBP 06. BRIEF (BFDB) CAN BE •Another variation to AS 3959 is that This chapter outlines considerations and materials tested to AS 1530.8 parts 1 requirements for construction not covered COMPLETED WITH ALL and 2 must not ‘flame’. This is not a by chapter 7. STAKEHOLDERS change from PBP 06. Key points: INCLUDING THE RFS •Better Bushfire Outcome – this clause • Dual occupancy, multi-dwelling housing, TO APPROVE THE outlines that where development secondary dwellings, rural workers’ involves alterations and additions, strict dwellings and boarding houses must not DEVELOPMENT UNDER compliance with AS 3959 may not be exceed BAL-29 on the building envelope, AN ALTERNATE SOLUTION. the best outcome for the development. if they do then the provisions of Chapter ESSENTIALLY THIS IS For example rather than constructing the 5 must be considered even if the land is THE NSW RFS PROCESS addition to BAL-40 it may be a better not to be subdivided. This reflects that FOR A PERFORMANCE outcome to construct the addition to complying development can only be BAL-29 and provide additional ember carried out on land rated BAL-29 SOLUTION... protection to the existing part of the or lower. dwelling. Evidence must be provided • ‘Technical considerations’ which need to that the proposed outcome is better. be addressed as part of a development A bushfire design brief (BFDB) can application for multi-storey residential be completed with all stakeholders buildings of more than three stories. including the RFS to approve the • Additional considerations for non- development under an alternate residential construction. solution. Essentially this is the Planning for Bushfire Protection 2018 can be NSW RFS process for a performance downloaded for free at www.rfs.nsw.gov.au solution, and further guidance on For more information about the BCA, this can be found in Appendix 2 Australian Standards or any other related of BPB 18. matter email nsw_technical@hia.com.au. •When determining the bushfire attack level for a site the tables in Appendix 1 replace those in AS 3959. BUILDING NEWS ISSUE 1/2019P29