The Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) has submitted its responses to the draft legislation of the Design and Building Practitioners Bill (2019) and Building Stronger Foundations discussion paper.

It acknowledged that the Bill is a major step forwards in ensuring compliant building work considering the current systematic failures within the current codes but it limits its focus on designers and constructors and ignores broader project management and certifier compliance.

Obligations in the Bill, while in line with community expectations, do not extend across the full process of building work.

“We need to ensure the Bill has adequate countermeasures that would actively discourage short cuts that are currently being taken in the building industry,” AIPM chief executive Elizabeth Foley says.

In the draft legislation, a design practitioner is defined as a design practitioner, principal design practitioner or building practitioner. This limits the various other practitioners involved in a typical building including project managers and certifiers.

“There needs to be a commitment to compliance providing adequate coverage of the full design process, and this can’t be achieved by the current definition of ‘practitioner’ in the Bill,” Elizabeth says.

The AIPM also believe that education is a key issue within management and leadership which causes a gap in accountability across building work processes and compliance within the building code.

“We have university graduates coming straight out of classrooms and given tasks they are not experienced in, with no practical building knowledge and more importantly they do not have the skills or confidence to communicate with trades people and builders alike,” Elizabeth finishes.