Fire Safety v Heritage Issues
Given the age of most of the buildings within the Leichhardt municipality, balancing modern fire safety requirements with heritage concerns can be difficult, but Council has the scope to work with other independent consultants chosen by the building owner/s to address the key issues sympathetically. The Heritage Council of NSW has a fire advisory panel that helps owners of heritage buildings with fire compliance issues. But while Council can negotiate compromises with the standard building codes, the focus is still on building safety, and if a building presents an unacceptable fire safety risk to the community then the issue must be dealt with irrespective of the age of the building.
The primary objective is to holistically improve the fire safety provisions of the building. It must be noted that given the period in which most of the buildings within Leichhardt municipality were originally constructed, the building would not comply with the current requirements of the BCA, the requirements of which for fire safety have increased with greater knowledge and awareness gained over time of fire safety characteristics in buildings.
If BCA compliance could not readily be achieved without substantial demolition and reconstruction of the existing building fabric, then Alternative Solutions may have to be developed or dispensation sought from Council as the regulatory authority.
However even though Council has legislated discretionary powers, Council is often unwilling to accept existing non-compliance issues unless substantial justification by a relevant subject matter expert is provided, such as an Accredited Fire Engineer.