Click here to view an extract from the HIA Guide to the Building Code Of Australia relating to staircases.
This handy guide, published by HIA (Housing Industry Association) is designed to simplify and explain Volume Two of the Building Code of Australia (BCA) - The Housing Provisions. It should be read
in conjuction with the latest Building Code of Australia.
This document is not published by Slattery & Acquroff Holdings Pty Ltd. The document is an extract of a guide to the building regulations on staircases and Slattery & Acquroff Holdings Pty. Ltd. take no responsability for any staircases manufactured by any other party.
The full guide can be purchased from the HIA.
Warning:
This Guide to the Building Code Of Australia is intended as a guide only. It contains HIA's general views and opinions on the Building Code of Australia and is not
to be relied on in place of or in substitution for the Code itself. While every care has been taken in its preperation, it is necessarily a general document and the HIA makes
no representation that this Guide and the views and opinions expressed in this Guide are suitable or appropriate for application to any particular project or any particular work.
You should always refer to the Code itself in addition to this Guide, and where differant, follow the Code. You should be aware that as the Code may change from time to time, and as
there may be State or local variations to the Code, this Guide may not reflect the requirements currently applicable to building work in your area. As HIA cannot forsee all possible
building work situations, or know about all the particular circumstances or individual jobs, HIA can accept no liability for any loss or damage, however occuring, arising out of the use
of or reliance on this Guide."
Please note that many people are under the misapprehension that there is no longer a requirement for minimum headroom in staircase construction. This is not correct although you could be forgiven for thinking that it was. Nowhere in the actual staircase section of the BCA is there any mention of headroom heights, but for some reason, someone decided to slot that particular reg in with ‘ceiling heights’. So there is a headroom limit and it is 2 metres measured from the nosing line.
We believe that most of the regulations pertaining to stairs and balustrading are reasonable and work to promote safer buildings. Regulations should reflect industry standards and a balance between safety and practicality.
