The ACT is to call for mandatory accessibility standards in the National Construction Code to ensure that every new residential building across Australia meets a threshold level of universal design.
Minister for Sustainable Building and Construction, Rebecca Vassarotti said she would be calling for the mandatory standards at the upcoming meeting of Australia’s Building Ministers.
“Imagine a world where every home is accessible or more easily adaptable for most people regardless of age, disability, background or other factors. That’s what universal design is about,” Ms Vassarotti said.
“The standards will require simple features such as doors wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs and step free access, a bathroom on the ground floor and structural reinforcements to allow for the installation of supports like grip rails if they are needed in the future,” she said.
“Housing is a fundamental human right and accessible, affordable and sustainable housing is what our community needs to thrive.”
Ms Vassarotti said that if the changes to the National Construction Code weren’t agreed to by all Building Ministers, she would commence work to introduce standards for the ACT.
She said universal design was standard in other countries, like the United Kingdom which first introduced basic accessibility requirements to its residential building regulations in 1999.
“Australia’s voluntary Livable Housing Design Guidelines have failed to provide adequate levels of accessible housing,” the Minister said.
“It is estimated that only five to 10 per cent of new homes in Australia are being built to accessibility standards.
“Indeed, 73.6 per cent of respondents in a 2020 report by the University of Melbourne said they were living in housing that does not, or only partially, meets their needs.”
Ms Vassarotti said the building industry needed to be supported to meet the new standards but it must fully commit to building homes which met the needs of the community.
She said the proposed changes would add about one per cent to the average construction cost of new homes and would save thousands of dollars in expensive retrofitting to homes in the future.
