In the media
Australian construction industry stabilising
Australia's construction industry will contract by
2.4% in 2019, but will regain its growth momentum in 2020,
according to a report from data analytics and consulting company
GlobalData (25 July 2019).
More...
Developers would need to prove they can afford to fix
defects under proposed law
Developers would be required to engage in a range of
transparency measures designed to stop them avoiding debts and
defect bills, and nominate a person to take responsibility for the
company's actions, under a proposal being considered by the ACT
Government (23 July 2019).
More...
Ministers agree to act on PI impasse
A consultation on professional indemnity insurance is
expected in coming weeks after the Building Ministers' Forum in
Sydney last week agreed on a co-ordinated response to the impasse
in the construction industry. The near-collapse of the PI market
for certifiers and surveyors, triggered by the withdrawal of
exemption-free covers, was among key issues discussed at the
meeting in Sydney (22 July 2019).
More...
No 'windfall' for insurers under cladding fix:
ICA
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA)
has rejected suggestions that insurers will enjoy a
"significant windfall gain" from Victoria's cladding
rectification plan and should therefore help fund the repairs (22
July 2019).
More...
Energy efficiency hits home for Australia's Building
Ministers
As we strive to reduce Australia's carbon emissions,
whilst at the same time tackling rising energy bills, the
Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council
(ASBEC) has warmly welcomed the agreement of
building ministers across the country to advance energy efficiency
provisions for new homes in the National Construction Code (18 July
2019).
More...
PCA: Joint Statement by industry groups on building
regulation
Australia's fragmented approach to regulatory
enforcement and compliance with building regulations requires a
renewed commitment to national action to maintain public confidence
in our built environment (15 July 2019).
More...
New South Wales
Prominent Sydney buildings at risk from combustible fire
cladding
More than 40 Sydney buildings need combustible fire
cladding replaced due to the risk of fire, new documents released
under freedom of information laws reveal (18 July 2019).
More...
Former Sydney tip owners awarded $50 million compo for
WestConnex site
The New South Wales government has been ordered to pay
more than $50 million compensation to the former owners of a tip
site that it acquired for WestConnex (18 July 2019).
More...
Queensland
$70 million up for grabs for job-creating regional
infrastructure projects
The Palaszczuk Government's successful $365 million
Building our Region's (BoR) program has
entered its next phase, with details of the $70 million Round 5
revealed (25 July 2019).
More...
Jobs to flow as local contract awarded for Haughton
upgrade
The Bruce Highway – Haughton River Floodplain
Upgrade project is continuing to generate local jobs, as a North
Queensland company puts the call out for businesses to help deliver
the major project (19 July 2019).
More...
Victoria
Victoria to spend $600m to strip flammable cladding from
hundreds of buildings
Hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent to deal with
the flammable cladding crisis in Victoria, where about 500
buildings need rectification work to be made safe (16 July 2019).
More...
In practice and courts
ABCB: Advisory Note released on the intent of the timber
framing concessions
22 July 2019 – This explains the intent of the
concession in Specification C1.1, Clauses 3.10 (a) and 4.3 (a) of
NCC Volume One.
More...
Queensland
State Infrastructure Plan 2019 (SIP) update
released
The Queensland Government has released the Part B 2019
update of the State Infrastructure Plan (SIP), and launched the
Strategy for Social Infrastructure. The strategy provides a
framework for the planning, design, location and use of the
state's social infrastructure (24 July 2019).
More...
Victoria
Victorian Building Practitioners' Insurance -
Ministerial Order
The Victorian Minister for Planning, Richard Wynne has
announced a Ministerial Order regarding professional indemnity
insurance to come into effect on August 12 2019. The details of
this order can be read on the Victorian Government Gazette No. S
293 which can be accessed
here.
Cases
Grocon Constructors (Qld) Pty Ltd v Dexus Funds Management
Limited as Trustee for the Dexus 480Q Trust (No 2)
[2019] FCA 1117
CORPORATIONS – application to set aside statutory
demands – whether statutory demands should be set aside on
basis that they were issued for a collateral and improper purpose
– whether statutory demands should be set aside on basis that
there is a genuine dispute as to whether certain amounts were due
and payable as at the date of the demand. Corporations Act
2001 (Cth), ss 459G, 459H, 459J
New South Wales
The Owners – Strata Plan 83572 v Jackson Teece
Chesterman Willis Pty Ltd [2019] NSWSC
942
BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION – residential building
work – statutory warranties – remedial work to leaking
façade – scope of work to be undertaken by the
remedial builder – whether work done without due care and
skill – whether any loss shown to have resulted from
builder's work
AEA Constructions Pty Ltd v Wharekawa;; AEA
Constructions Pty Ltd v Building Partners Pty Ltd
[2019] NSWCA 176
TORTS — negligence — apportionment of
responsibility and damages — primary judge held that
appellant vicariously liable for injury and breached duty of care
owed to respondent — primary judge found no negligence on
part of worker's employer — whether primary judge erred
in finding worker's employer not in breach of duty and liable
in damages to respondent such as to entitle appellant to
contribution from employer — whether primary judge erred in
assessment of non-economic loss by applying a 10% reduction to
percentage of most extreme case to reflect for contingency —
whether primary judge's assessment as to past economic loss
supported by evidence — whether primary judge's
estimation of working life of 60 years and application of 20 per
cent buffer for vicissitudes sufficient to account for fact that
surgery brought about by negligence would have been necessary at
some point in future in any event
Style Timber Floor Pty Ltd v Krivosudsky
[2019] NSWCA 171
BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION – payment claim under
Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act
1999 (NSW) – payment schedule – claim related to
seven invoices and five sites – email in response proposed a
meeting and referred to many emails, photos, back charges and
complaints – email said claimant would understand why he
couldn't be paid and that the damages done were more than had
been claimed – whether email in response was a payment
schedule – whether email indicated reasons for withholding
payment within meaning of s 14(3) – no particular site
indicated – scope of dispute unable to be determined –
court at first instance correct to conclude email not a payment
schedule – appeal dismissed
Victoria
Zulin Formwork Pty Ltd v Valeo Construction Pty
Ltd [2019] VCC 936
BUILDING CONTRACTS – Building and Construction
Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (Vic) –
plaintiff's application for judgment on payment claim –
whether judgment precluded because payment claim wrongfully
included "excluded amounts", being amounts said to
represent damages or, alternatively, non-claimable variations
Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act
2002 (Vic), s16(2)(a)(i)
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