Federal Industry Minister Ed Husic said the National Construction Code (NCC) reforms will make Australian homes more liveable, accessible and energy efficient.
Husic attributed the improvements to residential efficiency standards and condensation mitigation measures.
“These are historic reforms to improve the efficiency of homes and accessibility for older Australians and those living with disabilities,” he said.
“The Livable Housing provisions will see at least one point of step-free access to the home, slightly wider doorways and better access to facilities inside the house.”
Husic said the NCC 2022 energy-efficiency provisions will make it easier for people living in apartments to switch to an electric vehicle.
This is due to the provision of base infrastructure for future cabling and control-point installation at the time of construction.
Ministers throughout Australia also agreed to start work on building standards to facilitate the transition to EVs in new buildings.
Apartments will need to be EV-ready by 2023.
“National leadership on this issue has been sorely lacking. I’m determined to reverse that situation,” Husic said.
Ministers asked the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) to take this work further by working with relevant agencies to ensure future buildings are ready to support the energy transition by making EV charging easy and safe.
NCC 2022 will be available for voluntary use from 1 October 2022 and commence on 1 May 2023.