The perception amongst the regulators is the construction industry must change, safety is a priority, liability has become more important and easier to ascertain. The obligations of persons conducting a business or undertaking are greater and so too are their responsibilities. Along with this comes the education of staff and employees, to ensure a safe working environment is created and maintained on all construction projects.

Embedded networks are on the rise in Australia, with around 500 large-scale and thousands of smaller networks already established.

The days of trying to decipher hand written notes on a coffee stained incident report may be over thanks to a number of site document applications and software packages now on the market.

With a 40% fall in unit approvals from November to December last year, it seems a slowdown in apartment construction is definitely upon us. According to the Q3 Cordell Construction Market Movement Report released in December 2017, this shift away from apartment developments has been particularly significant in NSW.

As the seasonal temperature started to drop in mid-2017, there were early signs of a cooling off in Parramatta’s apartment values. Figures released by Core Logic in March and April last year showed falls in median unit values of between three and five percent in the suburbs of Ermington, Dundas, Granville and the Parramatta CBD.

The Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment Bill 2017 was passed on 23 November 2017. Minister for Planning and Housing, Anthony Roberts, said the changes would ensure a simpler, faster planning system, and build community confidence in planning decisions and outcomes.