DIVISION VII-HEALTH DIVISION VII-HEALTH AND AMENITY Part 44-Drainage of Building and Site
Part 58- Part 58- Temporary and Special Structures
As amended by Orders in Council published Gazette 15 May 1982, pp. 335-399; 26 February 1983, pp. 697-704.
Interpretat ion
1.3 (1) Definitions. In these By-laws save where a contrary intention appears-
"Act" means
the Bllildirtg .;let 1975."AS" means Australian Standard published by the Standards Association of Australia;
"adjoining owner" means an owner of land or premises adjoining the land or premises of a building owner;
"alteration", in relation to building, includes an addition or an extension to a building and "alter" and similar expressions shall be similarly construed;
"approved" means approved by the Local Authority;
"assembly building" means a building designed, constructed, or adapted for the assembly of persons for-
(a) civic, political, educational, transit, religious, social, or recreational purposes; or
(b) entertainment or amusement;
(a) applied to a fire door, smoke door or other member
required to prevent or restrict the spread of fire or smoke
through an opening, means designed to close by operation
BUILDING ACT 1975-1 984 1.3 53 of an approved heat-actuated or smoke-actuated device;
and
(b) applied to a smoke-and-heat vent, means designed to open by the operation of an approved heat-actuated or fire-sensing device;
"awning" means an awning as defined in By-law 54.1;
"building" means a fixed structure that is wholly or partly enclosed by walls and is roofed and includes any part of a building;
"building inspector" means a restricted building inspector or unrestricted building inspector as referred to in By-law 3.5;
"building line" means a line beyond which no part of a building may be erected or may project towards a road alignment, public reserve, lake, canal, river, waterway or the high water mark of any foreshore without approval of the Local Authority;
"building owner" means the owner of the land or premises upon or in relation to which, building work is being or is to be camed out;
"building work" means work in the nature of-
(a) the erection, construction, underpinning, removal, alteration of, addition to, or demolition of, any building or other structure;
(b) the making of any excavation or filling for, or incidental to, the erection, construction, underpinning, removal, alteration of, addition to, or demolition of, any building or other structure,
but does not include work of a kind declared by these By-laws not to be building work for the purposes of these B y-laws;
"by-law" includes a by-law made by a Local Authority and an ordinance made by Brisbane City Council;
"carport" means a carport as defined in By-law 54.3;
"closet" means a room or like enclosed space provided with a closet fixture;
"closet compartment" means a division of a sanitary compartmeilt provided with a single closet fixture. The term includes a cubicle;
"closet fixture" means a water closet pan, sanitary pan, cesspit, or other receptacle for human excreta;
"combustible"-
(a) applied to a material, means combustible in accordance with Australian Standard 1530, Methods for Fire Tests on Building Materials and Structures: Part 1- Combustibility Tests for Materials; and
54 1.3 BUILDING ACT 1975- 1984
(b) applied to construction or part of a building means constructed wholly or in part of materials that are combustible;
"construct" includes "erect";
"curtain wall" means a non-loadbearing external wall that is not a panel wall;
"dangerous material" means dangerous material as defined in By-law 53.4 (g);
"dwelling unit" means habitable rooms and other spaces used, or in the opinion of the Building Surveyor suitable to be used as a separate domicile;
"effective distance" means the effective distance as prescribed by subclause (4) of By-law 16.6;
"erect" includes-
(a) erect or commence or continue to erect;
(b) do, or commence or continue to do any work in the course of or for the purpose of erecting;
(c) perform any structural work or make any alteration, addition or rebuilding;
(d) move from one position on an allotment to another position on or partly on the same allotment or another allotment;
(e) re-erect with or without alteration on or partly on the same or another allotment; or
(0
where a building or other structure is located on more than one allotment-(i) move to another position on the same allotments or any of them or to another allotment or allotments; or (ii) re-erect with or without alteration on another position on the same allotments or any of them or on another allotment or allotments;
"exit" means-
(a) an internal or external stairway;
(b) a ramp;
(c) a fire-isolated passageway;
(d) a doorway opening to a road or open space,
or a combination of two or more such exits providing egress from a storey or space in the nature of a storey to a road or open space;
"fire door" means a fire door as prescribed by By-law 21.1;
"fire main" means a water service pipe connected to a water supply and installed within a building or building site for fire-fighting purposes;
"fire-isolated passageway" means a corridor, hallway or the like, providing egress to or from a fire-isolated stairway or fire- isolated ramp or to a road or open space, and conforming with By-law 24.9;
BUILDING ACT 1975- 1984 1.3 55
"fire-isolated ramp" means a ramp within a fire-resisting enclosure, providing egress from a storey or space in the nature of a storey and conforming with By-law 24.10;
"fire-isolated stairway" means a stairway within a fire-resisting shaft; including the floors and top enclosing structure, that complies with the relevant provisions of the appropriate Table in Part 16;
"fire-resistance rating" means the fire-resistance grading period determined according to the Standard Fire Test;
"fire-resisting" applied to a structural member or other part of a building, means having the fire-resistance rating required for that structural member or other part;
"fire-resisting construction" means one of the types of construction of a building referred to in Part 16;
"fire shutter" means a fire shutter as prescribed by By-law 21.5;
"fire source feature" means a fire-source feature as defined in clause (1) of By-law 16.6;
"fire wall" means an internal wall that divides a storey or building into sections to resist the spread of fire;
"fire window" means a fire window as prescribed by By-law 2 1.4;
"fire zone" means a primary or secondary fire zone, as the case may be so deemed or declared pursuant to the provisions of Part 5;
''fixtures" means all receptacles with their necessary appurtenances which are intended to receive any discharge for delivery to any soil pipe, waste pipe, house drain, combined house drain, or septic tank to which they may be connected; and includes closet fixtures, bidets, baths, sinks, basins, shower recess bases, wash-tubs, clothes washing machines, urinals, dish washing machines, slop sinks, garbage grinders, dental cuspidors and drinlung fountains;
"Flammability Index" means that index number for flammability when determined according to Australian Standard 1530, Methods for Fire Tests on Building Materials and Structures:
Part 2, Test for Flammability of Materials;
"flammable liquid" means flammable liquid as prescribed by By-law 5 3.48;
"floor area" means-
(a) with respect to a storey-the gross area of that storey measured over the enclosing walls, if any, and such portions of the party walls as belong to that building;
(b) with respect to a room-the gross area of the room measured within the finished surfaces of the walls, and includes the area occupied by any cupboards or other built-in furniture, fixtures or fittings;
(c) with respect to a Class I building-the gross area of all floors comprised within the building measured over the
BUILDING ACT 1 975- 1 984
enclosing walls thereof but excluding the area of any verandah, roofed terrace, patio, garage or car port comprised within or attached to the building;
"foundation" means the ground which supports the building or structure;
"habitable room" means a room (other than a bathroom, laundry, water closet, or the like), that is designed, constructed or adapted for the activities normally associated with domestic living, and for this purpose-
(a) includes a bedroom, living room, lounge room, music room, television room, kitchen, dining room, sewing room, study, playroom, sunroom, and the like; and
(b)
* " * *
(ba) excludes, in addition to bathrooms, laundries, water closets, and the like, such rooms or spaces as food storage pantries, walk-in wardrobes, corridors, enclosed verandahs, hallways, lobbies, photographic darkrooms, clothes drying rooms and office spaces of a specialized nature occupied neither frequently nor for extended periods;
"hydrant" means a fire hydrant or plug connected to a fire main, or water main as the case requires;
"institutional building" means a building designed, constructed, or adapted as a clinic, convalescent home, hospital, infirmary, nursing home, sanatorium, asylum, pre-school centre, home or institute for orphans, poor, aged, sick, or physically or mentally handicapped persons, or similar institutions;
"kiosk" means a kiosk as prescribed by By-law 53.4d;
"laundry" means a room or a portion of a room designed, constructed or adapted primarily for the washing of clothes or other laundering purposes;
"lightweight construction" means a form of construction defined in By-law 17.3;
"loadbearing" applied to a wall, a part of a wall, a shaft, or any similar member, means intended to support a vertical load additional to its own weight;
"Local Authority" means a Local Authority or Joint Local Authority constituted under the
Local Government
Act 1936- 1981 and includes-(a) any person who at the material time is to be deemed to be a Local Authority pursuant to that Act;
(b) Brisbane City Council constituted under the Citji qf
Brisha\lc .4ct 1924- 1980,
(c) any person or persons to whom are delegated any of the powers, authorities, duties and discretions had by a Local Authority for the purposes of these By-laws;
b b m a ~ ~ n r y " means stone, brick, terra-cotta block, concrete block, or other similar building units, or a combination thereof,
BUILDING ACT 1975-1 984 1.3 5 7
assembled together unit by unit to form a wall, pier, chimney, or other part of a building;
b b m e ~ ~ a n i n e " means that space within a room which is situated between-
(a) an intermediate floor constructed within the room; and (b) the floor level next above, or if there is no floor above,
the ceiling or roof above,
and in which the intermediate floor does not extend across the full area of the room;
"multiple dwelling" means a building used, or in the opinion of the Building Surveyor suitable to be used for two or more dwelling units. The term includes home units, sole occupancy units, row houses, maisonettes, duplex houses, boarding houses, tenements and the like;
"nearest part of an exit" means the configuration of the exit defined in By-law 24.34 (1);
(a) applied to a material, means non-combustible in accordance with Australian Standard 1530, Methods of Fire Tests on Building Materials and Structures: Part 1- Combustibility Tests for Materials; and
(b) applied to construction of part of a building, means constructed wholly of materials that are non-combustible;
"opening" for the purposes of Part 22, shall have the meaning ascribed to it in By-law 22.2;
"open-deck parking station" means a parking station in which all portions of the parking storeys are cross-ventilated by means of permanent openings in not fewer than two opposite or approximately opposite sides, the openings in each case being not smaller in unobstructed area than half the vertical area of the side concerned;
"open space" means a space on the site, open to the sky and connecting directly with a road;
"owner" in relation to any land, building or other structure, includes any person having an estate or interest therein, or the occupier thereof, or any person who is a registered mortgagee or registered encumbrancee in respect thereof;
"panel wall" means a non-loadbearing external wall, in frame or similar construction, that is wholly supported at each storey;
"part" when applied to a building, means a physical component or portion of a component;
''partition wall" means-
(a) a non-loadbearing internal wall that does not extend beyond one storey of a building; or
58 1.3 BUILDING ACT 1975-1 984
(b) a non-loadbearing member resembling such a wall, as the case requires;
"party wall" means a wall built to separate two or more buildings, or a wall forming part of a buildin and built on the dividing
f
line between adjoining premises or their common use;
"portion" when applied to a building, means a space or set of adjoining spaces in a building;
"pre-school centre" means a building, other than a school, designed constructed, or adapted for the pre-school care or training of not fewer than six children;
"private garage" means-
(a) any garage of a Class
I
building; or(b) in relation to a building of another class, any single storey capable of accommodating not more than three motor vehicles;
"public corridor" means a corridor, hallway or the like which- (a) serves as a means of egress from two or more sole-
occupancy units to a required exit from the storey concerned; or
(b) is required by these By-laws to be provided as a means of egress from any portion of a storey to a required exit;
"public garage" means a garage which is neither a private garage nor a building designed, constructed or adapted for the servicing of vehicles, other than washing, cleaning or polishing;
"required" means required by these By-laws;
"retaining wall" means a structure used to resist the lateral displacement of any material;
"rise" means the number of storeys above the ground calculated in accordance with the provisions of Part 17;
"SAA" means the Standards Association of Australia;
"sanitary compartment" means a room containing one or more closet fixtures and urinal, or one or more closet fixtures, or urinal;
"sarking-type material" means a material such as a reflective foil or other flexible membrane of a type normally used for a purpose such as water proofing, vapour proofing or thermal reflectance;
"school" includes a university, agricultural college, primary and secondary schools, teachers' training college, school of mines, theological college, or similar establishment designed, constructed, or adapted for primary, secondary, or tertiary education;
"section", when applied to a building means a portion of the building which is required to be separated from the remainder of the building as prescribed in Part 19 or Part 23;
"self-closing" applied to a door or window means equipped with an approved device designed to bring the door or window
BUILDING ACT 1975-1 984 1.3 59
to the fully closed and latched position after each manual opening;
"service station" means a garage which is not a private garage and which is designed, constructed or adapted for the servicing of vehicles, other than only washing, cleaning or polishing;
"shaft" means the walls and other parts of a building bounding a well or a vertical chute, duct, or similar passage, but not a chimney or like part of a building intended for the discharge of hot products of combustion;
"shop-front" means a shop-front as prescribed by By-law 53.4~;
"site" means the parcel of land upon which the building stands or is erected;
"smoke-and-heat vent" means a vent, located in or near the roof of a building or ceiling of a storey as the case may be, to provide effective means for the escape of smoke and hot gases if there is an outbreak of fire in the building;
"smoke-developed Index" means that index number for smoke developed when determined according to Australian Standard 1530, Methods for Fire Tests on Building Materials and Structures; Part 3, Test for Early Fire Hazard Properties of Materials;
"smoke door" means a smoke door as prescribed by By-law 2 1.3;
"sole occupancy unit" means a room or other portion of a building constructed, or adapted for occupation by one owner, lessee, tenant or other occupier to the exclusion of any other owner, lessee, tenant or other occupier. The unit may be occupied by one or more persons pursuant to a right or title, separate from the right or title under which adjacent portions of the building are occupied. The term applies to all classes of buildings;
"solid" applied to a wall, means without cavities, vertical cores or holes, or other voids, except those included within its individual masonry units;
"spread-of-flame Index" means that index number for spread of flame when determined according to Australian Standard 1530, Methods for Fire Tests on Building Materials and Structures; Part 3, Test for Early Fire Hazard Properties of Materials;
"sprinkler system" means a system of water sprinklers within a building set to discharge automatically at a pre-determined temperature;
"stairway" includes the treads and risers of a flight of stairs and the landings between flights;
"Standard Fire Test" means the fire-resistance rating of structures set out in Australian Standard 1530, Methods for Fire Tests
BUILDING ACT 1 975- 1984
on Building Materials and Structures; Part 4-Fire-resistance Test of Structures;
"storey" means that space within a building which is situated between one floor level and the floor level next above, or if there is no floor above, the ceiling or roof above, but does not include-
(a) such a space in which the only use for which the space is designed, constructed, or adapted is for the accommodation of any one of the following, namely;
(i) lift shafts, stairways, or meter rooms; or
(ii) bathrooms, shower rooms, laundries, water closets, or other sanitary compartments; or
(iii) not more than three vehicles; or
(b) a mezzanine except as provided in clause (6) of By-law 17.1;
"storeys contained" means the number of storeys contained in a building reckoned according to the provisions of By-law
19.1;
"stress grade" is the strength classification index value allocated to a piece of timber, in accordance with relevant Australian Standard Code visually or mechanically, to indicate its basic working stress in bending, e.g., F11 indicates a specieslgrade combination with a stress grading rating of 11 megapascals.
The species strength group, the graded quality, and the moisture content of the timber are the three factors which determine the stress grade of a piece of timber;
"structural engineer" means a person-
(a) who possesses the qualifications for corporate membership of the Institution of Engineers, Australia; and
(b) who has gained special skill in structural engineering by adequate experience in that specialty in the practice of engineering;
"struct~ral member" means a part of the structure of a building;
and includes a footing, column, pier, wall, curtain wall, panel wall, spandrel, parapet, partition wall, shaft, floor, roof, ceiling, stair, landing, ramp, or balcony, and any supporting part incorporated therewith;
"Town Planning Scheme" shall have the meaning assigned to it by the Local Government Act 1936-1974. The term also includes the Town Plan for the City of Brisbane approved for the time being pursuant to the provisions of the City of Brisbane Town Planning Act 1964-1 974;
"walls" include-
(i) "external walls", being the outer walls of a building, not being party walls or common walls;
(ii) "common walls" being those walls common to adjoining buildings which are not party walls; and
BUILDING ACT 1975-1984 1.3 61
(iii) "internal walls" being those walls of a building which are not external walls, common walls or party walls;
"window"-
(a) includes a roof light, glass panel, glass brick, glass louvre, glazed sash, glazed door, or other device capable of transmitting natural light directly from the exterior of a building to the room concerned; but
(b) does not include a door or other device not capable of transmitting natural light from the exterior of a building to the room concerned when in the closed position.
(2)
* * * *
(3) References and Language. In these By-laws, unless the contrary intention appears-
(a) references to Parts, By-laws and Appendices refer respectively to the Part into which these Standard Building By-laws are divided, the By-law of these Standard Building By-laws and the Appendix to these Standard Building By-laws indicated by the context;
(b) a reference to a specified subclause, paragraph, or subparagraph refers to a subclause of the By-law, paragraph of the subclause (or the By-law, if it has no subclause), or subparagraph of the paragraph, as the case may be, in which the reference is made;
(c) a reference to a Form quoted by a numeral is a reference to the Form so numbered in the Appendices;
(d) a reference to a Table quoted by a numeral with or without a letter or other numerals is a reference to the Table contained in or next following the By-law, subclause, or paragraph similarly referred to;
(e) language referring to a building in being shall be construed, with all necessary changes, for a proposed building, so that among other things-
(i) a reference to the owner of a building shall be construed as a reference to the person who, if the proposed building were then completed, would be its owner;
(ii) a reference to a structural member of certain materials shall be construed as a reference to a proposed structural member which, if erected as proposed, would be of those materials; and
(iii) a reference to the purpose of a building shall be construed as a reference to the purpose for which a proposed building is to be used on completion;
( f ) a reference to a building shall be construed as a reference to an entire building or a portion of a building, as the case requires;
(g) abbreviations and symbols for units and multiples and submultiples of units have the same meaning as they have