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PLUMBING CONNECTION
WINTER 2015
F
or those that don’t know, I’m a critic of unillustrated
wordiness. But even I was unprepared for what I found
when I started looking at all the literature about
access into our buildings. If a ramp is access for all, and a
stair is access for most, then I reckon the tangle of different
Standards and sections of Building Acts is as accessible as a
vertical wall sprayed with oil.
Wait for it… there is NO requirement for accessibility in
Volume 2 of the National Construction Code (NCC) – the one
that deals with Class 1 buildings (houses). The Premises
Code is an exercise in distraction, using fanfare and
repackaging – it simply restates that we should make our
buildings accessible to all.
The NCC Vol. 1, table D3.1 makes a pretty good fist of
explaining what it all means - but it leaves out standalone
houses, which are our bread and butter jobs. I think everyone
should be able to use our buildings – access should be a
basic human right. Even before I had two sets of twins, had
to wheel around my 5 year old son with cancer or had to
watch my grandmother shuffle around with a broken hip I
avoided steps by using set downs or ramps, and planning
floor finishes really carefully. Prior to landscaping, I’d also
spend time with a machine finely shaping the site to achieve
flowing paths and surfaces… without unnecessary stairs.
Even if you don’t empathise much, you plumbers can make
a major difference. Access is an investment by everyone to
give benefits to future users of our buildings. It shows our
love of children, older relatives and friends and those who,
through no fault of their own, can’t ‘jump puddles’ or other
little obstacles. Ironically, this also means our buildings are
usable to more people, and are cheaper to own because
they don’t require expensive modification for things that
JERRY TYRELL
HAS RECENTLY INTRODUCED ‘THE RULES PROJECT’ THAT, IN CONJUNCTION WITH CONNECTION
MAGAZINES, IS BEING PREPARED IN PART AS A VALID ALTERNATIVE TO THE SOMETIMES HARD TO DETERMINE
AUSTRALIAN STANDARDS. JERRY IS CONFIDENT THAT IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THIS CLEAR AND
CONCISE OPTION WILL BECOME THE DEFAULT METHOD FOR EVERYONE TO ACCESS BUILDING KNOWLEDGE IN
AUSTRALIA.
MAKING SENSE OF STANDARDS
ACCESS RULES