New Disability Access Standards – Effective 1 May 2011
The purpose of the Premises Standards (and corresponding changes to the Building Code of Australia and State / Territory Building Law) is:
- To ensure that dignified, equitable, cost-effective and reasonably achievable access to buildings, and facilities and services within buildings, is provided for people with disability, and
- To give certainty to building certifiers, developers and managers that if standards are complied with they cannot be subject to a successful complaint under the DDA in relation to those matters covered by the Premises Standards.
1. General Application
The Premises Standards will apply to all new buildings and to extensions or additions to existing buildings.
In most circumstances it will also be necessary to provide an accessible path of travel from the principal public entrance to the new or modified part of an existing building.
Recent Trends in Technical Due Diligence
Is your ‘too good to be true’ deal really sustainable ?
Lack of Capital post GFC has lead to a significant neglect of R&M and Capex spend.
Having worked on property due diligence valued over $10B since the GFC, Napier & Blakeley have seen only nominal spend on upkeep compared with previous years.
Risk of Non-Compliance (i) 
During this period the increasing trend has been a notable reduction of Repair and Maintenance (R&M) and Capital Expenditure (Capex) budgets. Whilst this strategy may have been necessary in some circumstances e.g. postponement of non-essential Capex, we have found too commonly evidence of non-compliance regarding statutory maintenance such as testing, auditing and reporting of essential safety measures and fire safety systems.
Reduced Life Expectancy and Premature Capex
Recent technical due diligence and condition assessments have also found that the lack of R&M and Capex budgets for economic life driven plant and equipment overhauls and refurbishments has resulted in increased short and medium term Capex.
