2017 NCC Seminars: Can you still have a 10a shed on a farm?

Coming to our next question and this is I'm sorry, our last question.

Can you still have a Class 10a shed on a farm?

I had an ooh up the front here.

I've had plenty of moans across Australia but oh I like that.

Can you still have a 10a shed on a farm?

Yes or no?

Yes?

No?

Why would you call it a 10a?

Good point sir.

That's what we're going to walk through right now.

Machinery shed, hay shed etc.

I've got to go to the heritage of this question in that in the NCC 2016, I think it was.

We introduced part H3 which introduced concessions for farm buildings and farm sheds. -

So, basically these sheds were getting on farms and the problem was that Class 7s and 8s, when they were applied to a farm, the building should have been a Class 7, Class 8.

People were thinking, too onerous, I'll just call it a 10a so we put in these concessions to catch buildings which should be Class 7 and 8 and give them some concessions, based on the fact that they had low occupancy, far from anywhere and these were appropriate concessions.

Do people use part H3?

Have we got some?

Excellent.

So there is some value in doing this.

I know here in the heart of Melbourne, there's not many farm buildings or farm sheds, but I'm glad that some people here. -

So this example here... is it a Class 10a or is it a Class 7?

Because what do you do with a Class 10a shed?

You store stuff.

What do you do with a Class 7 storage building?

You store stuff.

So how do we make the determination of the correct classification when applying the building code of Australia?

So we put in part H3 like I said and we've got all these warranted concessions.

Now the thing to note is that the gateway into the part H3 concessions is the defined term for a farm building or farm shed.

And each of those start with a class 7 or 8 building.

So the key to this is that you classify the building before you get to the concession.

Does that make sense?

You classify the building before you get to the concession. -

So you have to determine, is this a 10a or is this a class 7?

Classify the building before you get to the provisions.

This is a Class 8 building no question.

There's a process going on in here fruit packing.

Goods are packed for trade, sale or gain.

It's a Class 8 building.

The building is occupied but occupied in accordance with the parameters set out in the defined term for a farm building. 

And it's easy to identify because, Class 7- storage, Class 10- storage.Class 8, you're doing something in there.

There's a process.

So it's easy to identify that.

When we get to 7b and are we storing things?

Is it going to be a Class 7 or a Class 10?

Some judgement is required, and we've got some help in the guide.

Buildings used for farming purposes.

We have to find the most appropriate classification.

We've got some help here.

We're looking for what we're considering if it's a Class 10a storage shed or 7b storage shed. -

Take into account the building's size, its purpose, the operations that it's placed in, and importantly, the extent to which people are employed in the building.

If employees are in the building, 7b.

If there's no employees in the building, it might be a 10a.

These are the questions that we ask ourselves when we're trying to determine if the storage building is going to be a 7b or a 10.

I happily call this a 7.

This is a very large grain storage building in a very large wheat operation.

It's not generally occupied but when people are in there, it's not farmer Joe, it's the employees that go into that building to manage the grain storage.

And it's a large building.

It's presenting a hazard to occupants so it is appropriate to call it a 7b shed.

Whereas this shed... I call this a different story.

This shed is on a private farm in New South Wales.

It's actually my sister's shed.

My brother-in-law, that's his tractor there... he doesn't employ people to go and drive it.

He gets in the tractor himself.

He gets in there to get the tractor out.

There's no employees in there.

It's a building which presents low hazard, and so I'd very happily personally call that a class 10a shed.

Not just because it's my brother-in-law's shed but because it meets the parameters that we discussed there in the guide.

So the take-home message is that you need to, in applying part H3, you need to classify the building before you get there.

So you classify the building,

Determine what's the use of the building?

What's the size of the building?

What's the hazard it presents?

Are employees going into that building?

If it's all low hazard, you'd probably a 10, Class 10a. -

If you're getting high hazard, getting employees, you'd probably be leaning towards a 7a.

But I understand it's a difficult thing to determine, but we're trying to help you apply that judgment that we need to.