If you live in a heritage overlay area, next time you decide to trim your neighbour’s overhanging branch, make sure you think before you trim. Under vegetation overlays, there are strict limitations on the size of trees that can be cut without a permit and Councils apply strict fines and penalties to people who cut trees without a permit. Click here to read Jennifer Barry’s insightful article.

The marriage of private certification and performance building codes has not been entirely seamless. Individual certifiers in sanctioning alternative solutions bare extraordinary responsibility as there is no peer review. There is merit in reintroducing a peer review system so that in circumstances where alternative solutions require approval the applications are referred to an independent peer review party. Click here to access the article published in Design Build Source which sheds more light on point.

A must read for every engineer working in the Victorian Building Industry.

Given the Victorian Ombudsman’s recent scrutiny of Building Commission and Building Practitioners Board (BPB) for failing to ensure proper regulation of Registered Building Practitioners (RPBs), registration has become a very live issue. Accordingly, this article outlines the importance of registration under the Building Act 1993 (Vic) for engineers working within the building industry, as well as the consequences for failing to comply with registration requirements. To access the article click here.

Singapore has recently resolved to dispense with its British based building code and adopt the European standard. The European based building code will give Singapore greater ability to migrate construction technology and systems to that larger trading block. Click here to access the article published in designbuildsource which provides more insight on point.

In keeping with the theme of cross-jurisdictional comparative analysis on building regulations and the identification of more cross-jurisdictional harmonisation the paper title ‘World’s Best Practice Ingredients for Enlightened Building Regulation’, and delivered at an international conference last year is resubmitted. To access the article click here.