| After much work across a wide range of sectors, the National Building Ministers forum has agreed that new minimum accessibility Standards, based on the Silver Performance Level of the Livable Housing Australia (LHA) Design Guidelines, will be incorporated into the National Construction Code (NCC). Ministers also agreed that a voluntary Gold Level technical standard for accessible housing will be developed, which incorporates a higher level of accessibility requirements. It will be left to each State to determine if they wish to adopt Gold instead of Silver. This is a great outcome for new all home owners across the country, particularly for people as they get older, families with young children, as well as people with both temporary and permanent disabilities. The introduction of this mandatory requirement into the NCC will provide the basis for more livable and visitable homes for everyone, and support the capacity for people to stay in their own homes longer, and support the capacity for people to stay in their own homes longer. This initiative will also reduce stress on aged care facilities as well as provide further choice for people entering the housing market. Access Institute has worked closely with LHA for more than 10 years supporting the implementation of the LHA Design Guidelines and training LHA Design Guidelines Assessors. We are very pleased that at last these LHA Design Guidelines will become part of minimum generic housing requirements. The benefits and opportunities provided by this initiative will be felt across the whole country. Well done to all of the advocates who have worked hard to ensure this initiative was adopted. For further details of the Building Ministers’ Meeting: Communique April 2021 / Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources Contact Access Institute for details of the LHA Design Guideline Assessor Courses and LHA Design Guideline Information sessions at [email protected] |