The Australian property investment landscape is evolving, and the demand for apartment living is growing due to affordability and lifestyle factors. For investors considering buying an apartment in a multi-storey building, a comprehensive pre-purchase building inspection can mean the difference between a sound investment and a costly mistake. Have you ever considered how building certifiers get access to a high-rise to undertake such inspections? It isn’t as easy as a regular home or single-storey dwelling. Without proper access, there may be significant gaps in the final inspection report.
Understanding the National Construction Code: Class 2
The National Construction Code (NCC) sets baseline requirements for building safety, sustainability, and performance across Australia. The NCC puts buildings into distinct classes, and each classification determines what standards and compliance obligations apply.
Under the NCC, Class 2 buildings are residential structures containing two or more separate dwellings where people live above, beside, or below one another. Examples include apartment buildings, flats, and unit complexes.
Building inspection access for Class 2 buildings
For Class 2 buildings, compliance requirements extend beyond construction. Body corporates that manage these complexes have ongoing legal obligations to maintain the safety and structure of the building. To ensure this occurs, regular, comprehensive assessments are required. Such inspections are needed even when no defects or compliance issues have been identified. It is therefore essential that every part of the building is accessible, inside and out.
A building certifier can only inspect and report on what they can physically reach and examine. A certifier standing at ground level or accessing only internal common areas cannot thoroughly report on construction quality issues, identify the need for paint or concrete repairs, or spot critical water damage. To thoroughly inspect the façade of a high-rise or multi-storey building, sufficient access is required, especially in difficult-to-reach areas.
These access limitations can make it difficult to report on key elements of a building’s external structure, which can leave investors without a complete picture of the overall condition.
Accessing a high rise façade during building certifier inspections
Gecko Rope Access works with building certifiers across Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast to facilitate comprehensive high rise inspections. Working closely as a team, the certifier maintains professional control over the inspection while our experienced rope access specialists provide the physical access. As our technicians scale a building’s exterior, a live video feed allows building certifiers to visually inspect and assess a building’s external structure in real time, including hard-to-reach and confined spaces.
Combining rope access expertise with building inspection requirements gives building certifiers the ability to examine areas of a high-rise that would normally remain inaccessible without expensive scaffolding or crane hire.
Comprehensive solutions for high rise inspections
Investing in an apartment is a significant financial commitment to make when an inspection only provides partial facts. Using the skills of Gecko Rope Access, investors can be confident that a high rise building inspection will be undertaken as comprehensively as possible. Better access during building certifier inspections means better and more accurate information on which to make investment decisions.
Similarly, rope access building façade inspections can assist body corporates and strata managers to identify potential issues, including safety risks, structural problems and the need for high rise concrete repairs. Routine inspections can prevent bigger, more expensive problems later, and assist building managers in meeting all NCC compliance obligations.