What's happening with the delayed update to Australian Standard 1851, and what should strata committees do about fire protection systems to stay compliant?
I'm on the committee of an older strata building in NSW and have heard about planned updates to AS 1851, which covers fire protection system maintenance. We were told the update was due soon, but it has since been delayed. Can you explain what caused the delay, what changes we should expect, and what our committee should do in the meantime to ensure we remain compliant?
If the owners have been meeting their existing NSW strata legislation requirements to maintain their building and essential fire safety measures, AS 1851 should bring no change.
Regarding the delay, it occurred because the NSW Building Commission did not believe adequate education to end-users and research into the impact of legislating that had been undertaken by them or the industry.
There is a whole series of FAQ's and more to be released imminently, ready for the proposed Feb 2026 implementation date. I am co-chair of the Building Commission's Strata and owner sector of the industry reference group assembling those FAQ's.
Your committee needs to be aware that the new standard is coming. They should ensure their current fire maintenance contract requires their contractor to "undertake maintenance of their Essential Fire Safety Measures to AS1851-2012".
That is all they need to do. There are no requirements for an upgrade.
If the owners have been meeting their existing strata legislation requirements to maintain their building and essential fire safety measures, there should be no change whatsoever. If they have not been maintaining them, they need to start maintaining them in accordance with AS 1851 and rectify the identified defects. Again, to be clear, no upgrades are required.
Right now, you can find out more on the NSW Government website: Reforms to building fire safety regulation. Stay in contact with LookUpStrata, 2020 Fire Protection and other relevant industry bodies, and you will see the official FAQ's released soon!
Log in to your existing Lookupstrata Account to download the printable file.
Rob Broadhead, CEO of 2020 Fire Protection.
I've been involved in strata since 2001, spoken at events, written training courses and been involved in committees. I am a regular contributor to SCA, FMA, OCN, LookUpStrata and Your Strata Property.
I’ve been in fire protection since 1992, a graduate of the Institute of Fire Engineers and an Accredited Practitioner (Fire Safety).
I’ve served voluntarily as VP of FPA Australia and on SCA’s NSW State Committee. I've represented FMA on the Building Commission’s Fire Safety Steering committee, and listed in the 2021 report into Fire Safety Reform. I am co-chair of the Strata sector of the Fire Safety Industry Reference Group.
I bring timely fire and related legislative knowledge transparently to the strata industry.
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