The ASBEC National Construction Code Working Group was established to consider opportunities to improve Australia’s building energy performance standards and the National Construction Code (NCC).

This work is being undertaken through the Building Energy Performance Standards Project, the first stage of which (scoping) has been completed.

This stage involved a scoping workshop facilitated by ClimateWorks Australia in April 2016 and the production of this report, which outlines key issues and potential solutions.

Eleven key policy solutions were identified, six of which have been rated as ‘high’ priority. The next steps for ASBEC on these have been identified as:

• Undertaking further research where ASBEC is best placed to lead, in particular:
  • Development of a future trajectory for the minimum energy performance standards and improved upgrade process;
  • Collating existing research on residential stringency to reach agreement on a timeline for increasing the stringency for residential buildings;
• Coordination of industry input to existing ABCB processes leading up to the 2019 NCC, with a focus on:
  • Increasing the stringency of commercial building standards;
  • Introducing both whole-of-building and fabric-specific standards;
  • Implement as-built performance requirements;
• Advocacy in relation to the key solutions identified, including advocating for others to undertake further research, with a focus on improving State and Territory enforcement.

Building Energy Performance Scoping Workshop Outcomes report