Australia’s building industry is now operating under two concurrent versions of the National Construction Code. Since its publication on 1 May 2026, BCA 2025 has been in force in some jurisdictions while others continue to work under BCA 2022. Understanding which code governs your project is a fundamental compliance obligation that affects design decisions, documentation, and approvals from day one.
A Split Landscape: Adoption Varies by Jurisdiction
- Victoria and Tasmania adopted BCA 2025 from 1 May 2026. Tasmania’s adoption comes with carve-outs, excluding condensation provisions, commercial energy efficiency, and certain sanitary facility requirements.
- The ACT and Western Australia are in a transition period, with BCA 2025 becoming mandatory from 1 May 2027. Both jurisdictions permit voluntary early use in the interim.
- New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia have deferred the Building Code to 1 May 2027, though South Australia adopted the Plumbing Code on 1 May 2026.
- The Northern Territory is not adopting BCA 2025 and will remain on NCC 2022 Amendment 2.
Carpark Fire Safety: The Most Significant Revision
The most headline-worthy changes in BCA 2025 concern carpark fire safety. The Deemed-to-Satisfy provisions in this area have been comprehensively rebuilt, and the reason is straightforward: the previous framework drew heavily on research conducted in the 1980s. The vehicle landscape has changed dramatically since then. Modern cars are larger and heavier than the design basis assumed. Electric vehicles introduce new fire characteristics, specifically the risk of thermal runaway in lithium-ion battery packs. Car stacker systems, now widespread in urban developments, were simply not contemplated by the older provisions.
The practical consequences for fire engineers and building certifiers are significant:
- Open-deck carparks that form part of a multi-classified building now require sprinkler protection. This is a direct departure from previous provisions that allowed open-deck carparks to rely on natural ventilation as a fire safety measure. Stand-alone open-deck carparks are unaffected by this change.
- Any carpark with a capacity exceeding 40 vehicles requires sprinkler protection, regardless of whether it is open-deck or enclosed.
- Car stacker systems must now have dedicated sprinkler coverage, a specific requirement that did not exist in the previous DtS pathway.
- Fire Resistance Level concessions previously available for open-deck carparks of Type A and Type B construction have been removed. Similarly, certain FRL concessions for sprinklered carparks beneath other occupancy classifications no longer apply.
The takeaway for practitioners is that every sprinkler concession and FRL concession applied under BCA 2022 for a carpark element needs to be reviewed. Mixed-use podium developments and open-deck carparks integrated into residential or commercial towers are particularly affected.
Other Notable Changes Worth Understanding
Beyond the carpark provisions, BCA 2025 contains several quieter but consequential updates that will affect how fire engineers approach performance-based design and documentation.
Performance Solutions are now subject to a more rigorous assessment framework. The revised code specifies the means of assessment more precisely for certain performance requirements, and structural reliability can no longer rest on qualitative judgement alone, quantified reliability indices are now expected where structural performance is a factor in the fire engineering brief.
Combined sprinkler-hydrant systems using AS 2118.6-2026 as the acceptable solution now prohibit plastic pipe above ground. Metal pipework is required throughout above-ground installations for combined sprinkler systems. This has implications for both new projects and upgrades to existing combined systems.
On the other side of the ledger for concessions, BCA 2025 also introduces new DtS flexibility that reduces the need for performance solutions in some scenarios. Lightweight and steel construction is now permitted for certain fire-rated load-bearing walls where the effective height is below 25 metres and the building is fully sprinklered, situations that previously required a performance solution to justify. Hybrid photoluminescent exit signs have also been added to the DtS pathway.
Implications for Your Next Project
The shift to a dual-code environment requires a deliberate approach to project setup. Before any design decisions are made, the applicable code version needs to be confirmed based on the jurisdiction, the project’s approval pathway, and the date on which consent is likely to be sought. In transitional jurisdictions, the opportunity to voluntarily adopt BCA 2025 early may be advantageous or problematic depending on the project type.
For carpark-inclusive developments already in design under BCA 2022 assumptions, an early gap analysis against the new provisions is strongly recommended. Discovering that sprinkler protection is now required, or that FRL concessions no longer apply, at a late stage of design can have significant cost and programme implications.
The Vortex Fire team works across the jurisdictions most directly affected by the BCA 2025 transition, including Victoria, New South Wales, and the ACT. If you have a project where the code transition raises questions, whether around carpark compliance, performance solution methodology, or simply confirming which version of the NCC governs your approval, we are available to assist.