CSIRO will close down its North Ryde Fire Technology Laboratory in NSW once its lease expires in December, and the Housing Industry Association (HIA) and Australian Institute of Building Surveyors say it’s bad news for construction.
According to the HIA, the facility is used extensively for fire resistance testing of construction materials and systems.
Australia was losing one of its “most important building-product testing facilities”. This will have “significant implications for housing innovation, product development, and the delivery of new homes.”
The association said the facilities were “a critical part of Australia’s building and construction ecosystem” and provide up to half of Australia’s large scale fire testing capacity, at a time when demand for testing and certification is increasing. It also provides product certification, National Construction Code compliance, research and development, and allows for the commercialisation of innovative building products.
It said there will be significant implications for housing innovation, product development, and the delivery of new homes.
Chief executive of industry and policy, Simon Croft, who spoke about the issue on ABC radio on Tuesday among a flurry of other media coverage, told The Fifth Estate that the facility tests critical safety materials such as bushfire construction requirements, cladding fire safety on mid-high rise and internal, wall, floor and ceiling lining.
Croft said the facility has been in operation since 1944, and has been testing construction materials, cladding, insulation, bushfire safety, windows, shutters and other key products for 82 years. The facility also provides certification of products as part of remediation work and for commercial buildings.
“These are industrial size furnaces that are in the facility, so they’re very large and expensive, and not things you can just easily disassemble and replace in a new location.
“And you lose these kinds of facilities, you lose that capability, then also the people that operate the furnaces, the fire engineers and the capability and testing is not something you can pick up and replace as well – it’s a multi-pronged issue.”
Croft said there are only two large scale fire testing facilities in the country, and the closure of the North Ryde facility will leave the country with just one privately owned and operated facility in Melbourne.
“The last thing we want to see is this sort of testing certification work go offshore as well… where they might not necessarily fully interpret all of our codes and standards,” Croft said.
The facility had handled the bulk of retesting work following any building cladding fires in Australia, as well as retesting, product development and large scale fire testing following the Black Summer bushfires.
Insurer FM told Insurance News that businesses and buildings depend on the facility to ensure compliance with current fire safety regulations, and it was critical to mitigating potential hazards of different building materials. Insurance companies and banks have been working with the government to upgrade homes with climate-resilient measures.
The AIBS is equally vocal about the issue, with technical and policy manager Jeremy Turner saying building surveyors have invested heavily into “professional standards and reducing practice risk” and “improving confidence in the profession” – which helped restore confidence amongst professional indemnity insurers.
But now with the loss of an independent national fire testing facility, it could potentially “introduce additional practice risk” and would “over time, affect the availability of professional indemnity insurance for building surveyors.”
Turner agreed that this would increase reliance on commercial and overseas testing pathways “at a time when governments are placing greater emphasis on product assurance, regulatory compliance and safer buildings”.
Croft said his concern wasn’t about CSIRO or the private provider, which he said does a great job, but rather concern that there was only a single provider and “the loss of sovereign, independent capability and investment by governments collectively into building science, research, innovation, testing and certification.”
According to Croft, there were already significant delays in construction and only having one facility would “further compound the problem”, working against reforms from the economic roundtable last year and recent government investments into boosting modern methods of construction (MMC) and construction productivity.
And now Croft and his organisation are calling for the government to come to the table and discuss their longer-term plans for the facility and for fire testing.
“Building science is evolving, so we need to have the facilities to be able to support that so it can drive innovation, drive R&D and drive new materials to the market as well as support those existing.”
Meanwhile, Australian Institute of Building Surveyors said it had written directly to CSIRO outlining its concerns and asks the facility to remain operational while a long term solution is being discussed.
“We are not calling for the service to remain at North Ryde indefinitely,” Turner said.
“Our call is simple. Delay the closure until there is a clear plan to continue this essential capability, whether at North Ryde or another suitable location, so there is no loss of service or confidence in Australia’s building safety framework.”
Why its closing remains unclear
Widely quoted statements from CSIRO said it has made the decision after “an extensive assessment of our long-term property strategy and organisational priorities”.
Croft said CSIRO has publicly acknowledged the outcry, and his organisation has reached out to the federal Industry Minister Tim Ayres and Housing Minister Clare O’Neil, alongside the Australian Building Codes Board, who have been discussing alternatives with the organisation.
Croft said industries speaking out about the issue include leading people in building certification companies, building product suppliers and manufacturers, individual builders and practitioners, design professions and leading academics.
“HIA is calling for an urgent national response to preserve Australia’s building testing capability and ensure researchers, manufacturers and builders continue to have access to the facilities required to bring innovative housing solutions to market.”
CSIRO is Australia leading research organisation and losing any credibility research tool, regardless what is, always leave Australian business without test methods to ensure safe future.