Fair Work Building and Construction (FWBC) has issued notice to the Construction and Building industry advising of their new role. 

From Wednesday May 18 2016, FWBC will be responsible for the assessment of new enterprise agreements for compliance with the Building Code 2013. 

Further, any new enterprise agreements entered into by building contractors or building industry participants on or after 18 May, need to be compliant with the current Building Code 2013 in order for contractors to be eligible for work on future Commonwealth funded construction projects.

FWBC is responsible for monitoring compliance with the Building Code 2013. Moving forward, FWBC’s compliance role will also include assessing new enterprise agreements made on or after 18 May 2016 for compliance against the requirements of the Building Code 2013. As a result, the existing role will transfer from the Department of Employment to FWBC. This means FWBC will become the central agency to assist the building and construction industry to understand the requirements application of the Building Code 2013.

The transfer follows correspondence from the Minister for Employment to Director Nigel Hadgkiss on Friday 6 May 2016. The Minister rescinded the previous practice of deeming registered enterprise agreements automatically compliant with the Building Code 2013.

Building contractors who are covered by existing enterprise agreements, awards and other workplace arrangements can continue to bid for Commonwealth funded work. The changes only apply to enterprise agreements made on and from 18 May 2016. A failure to comply with the Building Code 2013 can result in Contractors being unable to access Government funded work.

The outcome of the Federal election will ultimately provide some much needed clarity regarding the future operation of the current and proposed (2014) building code.

Click here to read a detailed summary of the changes.

Should you have any questions about what this may mean for you, please contact NECA on 02 9744 1099.