Building accessible places

Australian legislation requires buildings (other than houses) to be accessible for people with a disability.

The Australian Human Rights Commission publishes standards, guidelines, advisory notes and frequently asked questions on access to premises to help building practitioners meet requirements in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA).

Under the DDA, people who work in the building industry have an obligation to comply with the Disability (Access to Premises-Buildings) Standards 2010.

New buildings must comply with the Disability (Access to Premises-Buildings) Standards when they are constructed. Older buildings must comply with these standards when the owner, person or business using the building carries out major renovations or changes.

Since 2011, the Disability (Access to Premises-Buildings) Standards have been reflected in the National Construction Code (NCC) to ensure that compliance with the NCC would also result in compliance with the DDA.

The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) administers the NCC which incorporates the Building Code of Australia (volumes 1 and 2) and the Plumbing Code of Australia (volume 3). The NCC is used by building practitioners when designing buildings.

Accessible housing

The National Construction Code 2022 includes new requirements, including a referenced technical standard, the ABCB Livable Housing Design Standard (LHDS). These requirements reflect the silver level under Livable Housing Australia’s Livable Housing Design Guidelines.

The phase in of the new accessibility requirements commenced on 1 October 2023.  These changes will ensure new houses and units are designed and constructed to be more accessible for everyone including older people, people with disability, families with young children and people with temporary mobility injuries.

These important changes will allow people to remain in their homes as they age, without the need for costly adaptations.

The LHDS requires:

  • at least one step-free entry
  • slightly wider internal doors and corridors
  • one step-free access into a bathroom and shower
  • an accessible toilet
  • reinforcing of bathroom and toilet walls to allow handrails to be installed later.

Practical transitional measures including exemptions and alternative compliance pathways have been developed to assist stakeholders with the changes. These include:

  • an 18-month exemption period for new dwellings on narrow lots (frontage of 12.5 metres or less) and existing pre-built class 1 dwellings (55m2 or less in size)
  • an ongoing exemption where it is not practical or reasonable to apply the new standards to toilet and bathroom renovations
  • an exemption for general repairs and maintenance
  • greater flexibility in meeting the step-down shower and grading to floor waste performance requirements
  • an exemption from installing an accessible toilet on entry level if that level does not have a habitable room (instead an accessible toilet would need to be installed on the first level with a habitable room)
  • exemptions for step-free entry requirements for small and steep lots, with protections for the iconic Queenslander.

Transitional arrangements also apply to changes of building assessment provisions under section 37 of the Building Act 1975. New homes that are already significantly designed or where construction commenced prior to 1 October 2023 are not impacted by these changes.

More information