Revitalising Underutilised Buildings

Upgrading existing buildings

The measures includes a range of initiatives to make it easier to upgrade ageing underutilised buildings, including:

• A new Minister’s Specification SA: Upgrading health and safety in existing buildings which reduces the building performance standards from 79 under the National Construction Code to 24 across the State.

The Specification was developed to assist relevant authorities exercise their discretion when considering requiring an existing building to be upgraded. The document also provides property owners, tenants, developers and building practitioners with a broader understanding of the safety and health objectives of the legislation.

• An amendment to the Development Regulations 2008 removes the requirement for planning consent for internal building work, including demolition, in the City of Adelaide (with the exception of heritage buildings). This is consistent with the rest of the State.

The Australian Building Codes Board has published a handbook to assist practitioners when developing or approving proposed work to upgrade an existing building. The handbook assists in the identification of potential deficiencies and determining a scope of work required to alleviate those deficiencies.

City-living incentives

Additional incentives are being offered to owners/investors of Core C and D grade buildings in the CBD wishing to convert their office buildings to residential, including:

• waiving of development application fees;
• access to a free Activation Coordinator that will provide an advisory service to:
  • reduce assessment times for development proposals
  • assist with establishing baseline data
  • facilitate agency and council referrals, including those relating to access for people with a disability (PDF, 171 KB).

If you would like to take advantage of the coordination service, forward a completed Expression of Interest form (PDF, 958 KB) to DIT.PDBuildingBranch@sa.gov.au. For further information contact the Activation Coordinator on 1800 752 664 or by email at DIT.PDBuildingBranch@sa.gov.au.