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NSW’s new Building Approvals and Practitioners Act: what designers should watch

In short

  • The Building (Approvals and Practitioners) Act 2026 (NSW) passed Parliament in August 2026. Almost all of it has not commenced.
  • Only two amendments to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act started on assent. Everything else starts on dates set by proclamation.
  • Building Commission NSW says the reforms take effect once regulations are developed, with consultation during 2026 and 2027. No regulations have been released.
  • When it commences, the Act repeals the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020. The new Act has its own regulated designs, design compliance declarations and statutory duty of care.
  • Until then, nothing changes for today’s jobs. The current design practitioner scheme, including its CPD, still applies.

Correct as at September 2026.

A new building Act has passed in New South Wales, and plenty of designers are asking the same thing. Do I need to do anything differently on Monday?

Not yet. But this Act will change how building approvals, declarations and registration work, and the detail that matters most to you sits in regulations nobody has seen. Here is what is known, what is not, and what to keep an eye on.

What has passed, and what has started

The Building (Approvals and Practitioners) Act 2026 is Act No 26 of 2026. Building Commission NSW says it passed Parliament in August 2026 and is the legislation behind its Building Productivity Reforms.

Section 2 is the one to read first. It says the Act commences on assent only for two items in Schedule 3, both amendments to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act dealing with manufactured homes for Crown development. Everything else commences “on a day or days to be appointed by proclamation”. The NSW legislation website confirms that some, but not all, provisions have commenced.

Building Commission NSW puts it simply: the reforms come into effect once the associated regulations have been developed, and it will consult with industry on those regulations during 2026 and 2027.

What the reforms aim to do

According to Building Commission NSW, the reforms focus on four areas:

  • a clear regulatory framework for prefabricated and modular buildings, treating them the same as traditionally built homes;
  • a new building approvals framework for all building classes, moving building approvals out of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act;
  • structured dispute resolution for occupied apartment buildings; and
  • clearer certifier conflict of interest rules, with the maximum court-imposed penalty proposed to rise from $33,000 to $1.1 million.

The Act also swaps some familiar language. It introduces a building approval and a completion approval, and the consequential amendments replace references to occupation certificates with completion approvals.

What it means for designers

For designers, three parts of the Act matter most.

Regulated designs and declarations are built in. The Act defines a regulated design as one in the approved form, with enough detail for the builder to build it in compliance with the Building Code of Australia, certified by a design compliance declaration. That declaration must be made by the registration holder who prepared the design. An application for a building approval involving a building element for a prescribed building must include the regulated design and its declaration (section 18). Which buildings are “prescribed” is left to the regulations.

Building elements are defined broadly. Section 9 covers fire safety systems, waterproofing, load-bearing components essential to stability, the building enclosure (roofs, walls including below ground, windows and doors), and the parts of mechanical, plumbing and electrical services needed to comply with the Building Code of Australia. The regulations can add or exclude items.

Builders have to get your declaration. A building practitioner doing building element work must take all reasonable steps to obtain a regulated design and a design compliance declaration (section 68), with a maximum penalty of 600 penalty units for an individual. A builder has a defence if they reasonably relied on and built to a declared design (section 69). Expect builders to ask harder questions about what you have declared.

The Act includes a statutory duty of care. Part 8 sets out a duty to exercise reasonable care to avoid economic loss caused by defects. It covers people who prepare designs, including regulated designs, and is owed to each owner and each subsequent owner of the land.

Performance solutions get a new gate

Section 19 requires a report for any building approval involving a performance solution. If the regulations class it as a higher-risk performance solution, the report must be prepared by an authorised registration holder and certified by a performance solution report compliance declaration. The list of higher-risk solutions has not been published.

What happens to the Design and Building Practitioners Act

Section 202 repeals the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 and its 2021 Regulation, along with the Building and Development Certifiers Act 2018 and its Regulation. That repeal has not commenced.

Until it does, the current scheme applies. Registered design practitioners still need at least 3 hours a year of approved education and training, and under the NSW guidelines that comes through Construct NSW courses. The new Act lets the regulations deal with continuing professional development, but no new CPD rule has been made.

What to watch

  • The regulations. They will set which buildings are prescribed, the classes of registration, what a regulated design must contain, and the higher-risk performance solutions. Watch for Building Commission NSW consultation.
  • Commencement proclamations. Parts of the Act can switch on at different times.
  • Transitional rules. Schedule 1 allows savings and transitional regulations to be made up to 2 years after a provision commences. How existing registrations move across is not yet known.
  • The NCC change. Separately, NSW moves to NCC 2025 on 1 May 2027. Do not let the two timelines blur.

CPD for NSW designers

A course on the new Act for building designers is in development. These live courses deal with the risks already in front of you:

Check your current obligations on our CPD in NSW page, the CPD requirements guide and the CPD deadlines calendar.

Frequently asked questions

Has the NSW Building (Approvals and Practitioners) Act 2026 commenced?

Mostly no. Only two amendments to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act commenced on assent. The rest of the Building (Approvals and Practitioners) Act 2026 commences on dates to be set by proclamation.

When will the new NSW building approval rules take effect?

Building Commission NSW says the reforms take effect once the associated regulations are developed, and it will consult on them during 2026 and 2027. No start date has been announced.

Does the new Act replace the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020?

Yes, when the repeal provision commences. Section 202 of the new Act repeals the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 and its Regulation. Until then, the current scheme continues to apply.

Will design compliance declarations still be needed in NSW?

Yes. The new Act includes regulated designs and design compliance declarations. A declaration must be made by the registration holder who prepared the design and must state that the design complies with the Act, the regulations and the Building Code of Australia.

Do NSW design practitioners have new CPD requirements?

Not yet. The current requirement of at least 3 hours a year of approved education and training still applies. The new Act allows regulations about continuing professional development, but none have been made.

Sources