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Building code, decoded.

The National Construction Code - Building Code of Australia (BCA) is a nationally consistent document that provides the minimum necessary requirements for safety, health, amenity and sustainability in the design and construction of new buildings (and new building work in existing buildings) throughout Australia. The BCA provides a classification system for a building or part of a building and is determined by the purpose for which it is designed, constructed or adapted to be used.

Class 1a

A single dwelling being a detached
house; or one of a group of attached dwellings being a town house, row house or the like.

Class 1b

A boarding house, guest house or
hostel that has a floor area >300 m2 and ordinarily >12 people living in it. It can also be 4+ single dwellings located on one allotment which are used for short-term holiday stays.

Class 2

Class 2 buildings are apartment buildings. They are typically multi-unit residential buildings where people live above and below each other. They may also be single storey attached dwellings with a common space below e.g. 2 dwellings above a common basement or carpark.

Class 3

Residential buildings other than Class 1 or Class 2 buildings, or a Class 4 part of a building. They are a common place of Long Term or Transient Accommodation for a number of unrelated persons (e.g. hotel, motel, boarding house, residential care building).

Class 4 part of a building

A single domestic dwelling within a building of non-residential nature (i.e. a Class 5 to Class 9 building) (e.g. caretaker accommodation in a hospital).

Class 5

Office buildings for professional and/or commercial purposes.

Class 6

Buildings where retail goods are sold or services are supplied to the public, such as shops or restaurants.

Class 7

Storage-type buildings
7a - Carparks
7b - Warehouses, storage buildings or buildings for the display of wholesale goods.

Class 8

Process-type buildings used for production, assembling, altering, packing, cleaning etc. of goods or produce (e.g. a laboratory, mechanic's or a factory).

Class 9

Public buildings
9a - Healthcare buildings
9b - Social assembly buildings (e.g. schools, sporting facilities, night clubs)

9c - Residential care buildings.

Class 10 buildings or structures

Non-habitable structures
10a - Sheds, carports, garages
10b - Fences, retaining walls, pools, antenna
10c - Bushfire Shelter