Consultation on proposed amendment to the Compliance Document for Clause B1 Structure
25 May 2005
The Department of Building and Housing is seeking feedback on proposed changes to Verification Method B1/VM1 General, as contained in the Compliance Document for Clause B1 Structure.
This Verification Method provides approved means of designing structures that comply with the Building Code, largely by citing New Zealand Standards. In this case the emphasis is on timber construction. The relevant Standard is NZS 3603: 1993 'Timber Structures Standard'.
The proposal is to cite Amendment 4 to NZS 3603 in B1/VM1 General. Amendment 4 to the Standard was subject to the normal Standards New Zealand public comment process before being published on 31 March 2005.
Amendment 4 results from the general acknowledgement that structural and framing timbers are not achieving the engineering properties (stiffness and strength) specified in NZS 3603. It introduces and provides the engineering properties of verified timber. This applies to both visually graded and machine stress graded timber.
Amendment 4 also down-rates the properties of unverified visually graded timber.
The closing date for submitting comments on the proposed changes is 15 July 2005.
Download a copy of the consultation document from the Department's website here or phone 0800 242 243 for a hard copy.