When do I need a building permit for essential safety measures?

The matter of when a Building Permit is required for building work or maintenance of an Essential Safety Measure keeps coming up in Victoria...

Only last week I had two instances where I needed to DETERMINE if I needed a building permit, here are the two examples;

1. Installation of 4 additional speakers in a laboratory to improve the sound pressure levels;
2. Installation of a fire panel with a single zone connected to an ASE.

Additional speakers

The background for this work is our customer had his building substantially refurbished about 12 months ago. The building is a mixed Class 5 and a Class 8 building After the refurbishment, there was still areas where the evacuation tones could not be heard. During our test, we recommended the customer install one additional speaker in each of the laboratories where the sound pressure level was insufficient. This is where the story goes in one of two directions... I suggest that most of our peers in the industry would not advise the building owner of their obligation to get a building permit for this simple scope of work..

According to Building Surveyor, David Swinson of Fire Safety Consulting;

Section 16 (1) of the Building Act 1993 (the Act) is our starting point it says:

1. A person must not carry out building work unless a building permit in respect of the work has been issued and is in force under this Act and the work is carried out in accordance with this Act, the building regulations and the permit.
2. Subsection (1) does not apply to building work exempted by or under this Act or the regulations."

So by the definitions of the Building Act 1993 (Section 3 - Definitions) and the Building Regulations 2006 Regulation 105 (Definitions) as follows;

Section 3 of the Act also defines building work- "means work for or in connection with the construction, demolition or removal of a building."

In Section 3 (Definitions) the Act defines construct as: "in relation to a building, includes—

1. build, re-build, erect or re-erect the building; and
2. repair the building; and
3. make alterations to the building; and
4. enlarge or extend the building; and
5. place or relocate the building on land."

Furthermore, Regulation 105 (Definitions) of the Building Regulations 2006 defines alteration - "means construction in relation to an existing building".

So by these definitions, the addition of 4 emergency warning system speakers is "building work"...

Once this was decided, the building surveyor needed the following information in order to complete the Form 1 - Application for a Building permit;

1. Site Plan (if not available we can use plan of subdivision showing allotment details)
2. Floor Plan showing the location of the building works
3. Photograph of the area where the building works is to be carried out
4. Supply of the specification of the building work to be completed.

The building surveyor will also carry out an inspection of the building works and may require specialist independent certification of the building works. Finally, the building surveyor will prepare a Certificate of Final Inspection.

The building permit process can take between 5 to 10 days but can be less where all of the necessary information is readily available.

Installation of a new fire panel

You can see from the first example that the installation of four speakers requires a building permit and it is logical therefore that a building permit is also required for the installation of the fire panel.

This is SLIGHTLY different from the speakers (it again involves the addition of a safety measure) as the fire panel is also connected by the Alarm Signalling Equipment (ASE) to the fire brigade.. Whenever a fire panel is connected to an ASE the fire brigade will demand a building permit.

In this case, I included both the installation of the new fire panel and the ASE connection in the scope of work. One permit, less paper work and lower costs.

Wrapping up...

This is my rule of thumb to determine when a building permit is required;

• I need a Building Permit when...
• I am installing, altering or adding an essential safety measure (building works); or
• My maintenance work will adversely affect the essential safety measure...

• I don't need a building permit when...
• My maintenance work does not adversely affect the essential safety measure...