ABB224 Construction Legislation

Unit Outline: Semester 2 2026, Gardens Point, Internal

Overview

This unit introduces the Australian statutory requirements, building laws and legal frameworks that regulate building works and construction activities to provide a broad understanding of how the mandatory technical requirements dictate the selection of the materials, construction elements, facilities and services in buildings. It articulates the potential risks and issues associated with non-conformance and non-compliance and their impact on project cost, time, and quality. The ability to identify, assess and resolve issues of non-compliance in relation to the application of National Construction Code (NCC), relevant building acts, Australian Standards and associated legislative frameworks is critically important to achieve the minimum necessary performance requirements of buildings in relation to health, safety, amenity and sustainability. The knowledge and skills developed in this unit are relevant to building professional practice in all areas of the built environment.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Independently locate and assess regulatory requirements to identify matters of potential risk critical to practical completion of buildings and rights to occupy building.
2. Critically analyse issues related to statutory building compliance and articulate priorities to resolve potential impacts around 'on time', 'within budget' and 'quality' outcomes.
3. Interpret and apply building legislation and relevant statutory requirements to determine the compliance of building construction.
4. Identify and analyse the increasing social responsibility elements of building construction.
5. Collaboratively work in a professional team to solve and communicate building legislative, regulatory and compliance requirements and issues in the planning, design and construction process.

Content

Learning Approaches

The unit employs problem and scenario-based learning. The content and assessments are drawn from real world situations to enable students to identify and analyse building work related issues within the context of relevant building legislation and statutory requirements.

The unit provides you with the following knowledge and skills:
Building Act 1975; National Construction Code (NCC); Building Code of Australia Volume 1(BCA); Queensland Development Code (QDC); Relevant Australian Standards; Other relevant Queensland legislation

Your participation in the unit will include:
• Lectures
• Class exercises
• Tutorials
• Assessment consultations
• Exam discussions
• Reading designated course materials

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

You will receive both formative and summative feedback in various forms throughout the semester which may include:

• Informal: worked example, verbal feedback in lecture and tutorial
• Formal: in writing, such as criteria sheets, written comments
• Direct: to individual students, in written form or in consultation
• Indirect: to the whole class, in lectures, tutorials or via the unit site

Assessment

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Report

Report & Compliance Exercise
Acting as a building professional, you will identify relevant legislation in terms of its hierarchy, purpose, administration and application, and apply Building Code of Australia (BCA) technical requirements to basic building scenarios and communicate your findings to the project manager of a construction project.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Assessment: Case Study Report/Presentation

Inspection and Compliance Report/Presentation
Working in a team, you will review a range of existing buildings as case studies or examples of different building classes and prepare a case study report. You will (i) identify the building's use, classification, rise in storeys and type of construction; (ii) identify the examples of building elements that do not  comply  with the performance requirements of the NCC; and (iii) provide a range of examples of building elements that demonstrate social responsibility or sustainability.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Assessment: Examination

Examination on the application and impact of relevant building legislation on buildings and the building process.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.

The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

Risk Assessment Statement

All commencing SEF students are required to complete the Mandatory Safety Induction

There are no extraordinary risks associated with the classroom/lecture activities in this unit.

Standards/Competencies

This unit is designed to support your development of the following standards\competencies.

Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competency Standard for Professional Engineer

1: Knowledge and Skill Base

1. 
   Relates to: Report, Case Study Report/Presentation, Examination
2. 
   Relates to: Report, Case Study Report/Presentation, Examination
3. 
   Relates to: Case Study Report/Presentation, Examination

2: Engineering Application Ability

1. 
   Relates to: Examination
2. 
   Relates to: Report, Case Study Report/Presentation

3: Professional and Personal Attributes

1. 
   Relates to: Report, Examination
2. 
   Relates to: Report, Case Study Report/Presentation
3. 
   Relates to: Case Study Report/Presentation

Course Learning Outcomes

AB01 Bachelor of Built Environment (Honours)

1. Apply theoretical, practical and cultural knowledge and skills across a range of disciplines and specialist knowledge and skills in one built environment area.
   Relates to: Report, Case Study Report/Presentation, Examination
2. Design and critically evaluate sustainable and creative solutions to social, economic, technological and environmental challenges.
   Relates to: Report, Case Study Report/Presentation, Examination
3. Communicate knowledge, ideas and creative solutions in diverse modes, for a range of contexts and diverse audiences.
   Relates to: Case Study Report/Presentation, Examination
4. Plan, develop and complete research and other projects.
   Relates to: Report, Case Study Report/Presentation, Examination
5. Strategically collaborate with diverse stakeholders and communities, including First Nations peoples.
   Relates to: Case Study Report/Presentation, Examination