Hoardings and other precautions
Precautions to Protect the Safety of the Public.
Under regulation 604 of the Building Regulations 2006 the relevant building surveyor (RBS) is responsible to determine any need for precautions to protect the safety of the public with relation to the site. It should be noted that the definition of 'public' is not limited to users of the street, it may include users of adjoining private property.
A determination setting out such a requirement must be clear and documented because under 319 of the Building Regulations the RBS must eventually lodge a copy of it with Council with the building permit lodgement under s30 of the Building Act.
Despite Stonnington's Local Law requiring that a Local Law permit must be obtained if any hoarding etc is to be erected over Council land, it does not prescribe the circumstances where building work requires precautions. If precautions are required over a street before or during a project the RBS must ensure Consent and Report is obtained before the building permit is issued. This cannot be made a condition of a building permit. Therefore the RBS must seek information up-front about all potential issues requiring precautions for the duration of the project. It is strongly recommended that the RBS obtains a traffic management plan from the designer or builder of the project for this purpose. Consideration must also be given to safety of the public during the actual erection and dismantling of any precautions - especially for overhead gantries, scaffolding etc.
The above process does not preclude the requirement that the person proposing to erect hoarding over a street must obtain a permit under the Local Law. This is not, however, the responsibility of the RBS.
A guideline is used by Council officers for assessment of applications for consent and report for precautions over a street alignment and for hoarding permits. A flow diagram of the process to be followed by the RBS has also been prepared. For more information visit our consent and report fees and forms page.