Last year, David Chandler, NSW Building Commissioner announced a new government initiative called ‘Project Intervene’ to address serious defects in Class 2 high-rise residential buildings. This initiative follows the success of the ‘Project Remediate’ campaign, which focused on remediation of flammable cladding.
Class 2 buildings often face issues related to waterproofing and passive fire stopping, which form a significant portion of the serious defects encountered in these structures. Under the Residential Apartment Buildings Act 2020 (RAB Act), the NSW Building Commissioner has the authority to issue directions or orders to developers or builders for fixing non-compliant building work.
The primary objective of Project Intervene is to negotiate agreements between developers and eligible owners corporations to ensure timely and cost-effective remediation of serious defects. This program can be a suitable option for owners of Class 2 residential apartment buildings with serious defects in the common property. To be eligible, the occupation certificate for the building must have been issued within the past 10 years, and the developer or builder should still be active or trading.
In addition to addressing serious defects, there is also a growing focus on Annual Fire Safety Statements. Knowledgeable practitioners are now identifying longstanding passive fire sealing issues in Class 2 buildings, particularly where services should have been compliantly fire sealed as they pass from the common corridors into individual units (such as power, communications, gas, water, and sprinkler pipes).
Rectifying these issues can be costly and disruptive, as the units are already occupied and accessing the unit side of corridor walls requires significant expense and disturbance. However, the corridors are relatively easier and cheaper to access.
One possible solution to this challenge is the new FIREFLY single-side single batt installation system. This system allows for compliant fire sealing of services in a fraction of the time, at a reduced cost and with minimal disruption. Currently, FIREFLY offers solutions for 75mm thick Powerpanel walls, with more to come.
The process of installing this FIREFLY system is simple: It involves leaving existing fire stopping attempts or holes as they are, measuring and cutting the 50mm thick FIREFLY batt to size using a long bladed Stanley or hand saw, and then gluing and fitting the batt around the services. Thermal wrap is applied only to the corridor-side of the wall if required. This system achieves a minimum Fire Resistance Level (FRL) of -/60/60 and an FRL of -/120/120 for certain services.
Please contact us for further information if you are interested in learning more about the FIREFLY single-side single batt installation system and its benefits.
