SR99 Design for durability - a review of New Zealand practice (2007)

This report covers the findings of a survey of the building industry regarding durability issues in general and the operation of clause B2 Durability of the New Zealand Building Code in particular.

New Zealand has had a mandatory requirement for durability in its national building code since 1992. In theory. this should have resulted in an increased awareness of the issues behind achieving appropriate durability through the design process and an active interest in the development of standards and methodologies that could facilitate good durability design.

This paper identifies which sectors of the construction industry are involved in design and how formalised their role is. The response from each sector was analysed to determine their awareness of durability requirements.(both regulatory and customer sourced), sources of durability information and knowledge of underlying durability principles.

The state of design for durability in New Zealand is summarised and areas where improvement is desirable are identified. Initiatives to advance in these areas are briefly discussed.