The ACT Government is removing barriers to home completions and making it easier for commercial and multi-unit buildings to upgrade to solar.
The Building and Construction Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 includes reforms designed to streamline building processes, reduce regulatory burden and support the delivery of more homes across Canberra.
Minister for Planning and Sustainable Development Chris Steel said the reforms progress the ACT Government's Construction Productivity Agenda, which is focused on building a more productive, resilient and sustainable construction industry while supporting the government's commitment to deliver 30,000 new homes by 2030.
"We're cutting unnecessary red tape, reducing costs for industry and homeowners, and creating a more efficient building and construction system without compromising safety or quality," Minister Steel said.
"These reforms will bring positive financial benefits to homeowners, construction practitioners and businesses by reducing costs of new home construction, providing streamlined licence renewal processes and enabling cheaper and faster delivery of renewable energy infrastructure."
The Bill delivers three main improvements:
- Substantially completed buildings with an expired building approval (BA) will be able to obtain a new approval for a further year and complete construction under the same version of the National Construction Code that applied at the time of the t the initial BA approval. This will avoid costly redesigns delays, and in some cases significant rebuilds, and will support the completion of new homes. A new Certificate of Partial Completion, issued by the Construction Occupations Registrar, will confirm work completed to date was lawfully undertaken and suitable to be finished, drawing a line in the sand which will provide and certifiers with the confidence to step in and complete the project.
- Solar panel and solar hot water installations on existing commercial and multi-unit buildings will no longer require a Building Approval where structural safety requirements are verified by a professional engineer, reducing costs and supporting faster renewable energy installations.
- Licence holders will be able to move to a different licence type during renewal without needing to lodge a new application and pay additional fees, providing the same flexibility as new licence applications for construction practitioners.
This builds on the first stage of productivity reforms which simplified development assessment and building processes for energy efficiency upgrades to home extensions and renovations, and low-impact minor building works.
Further tranches of reforms under the Construction Productivity Agenda will continue to be brought forward throughout the term and will focus on improving productivity to support housing and economic outcomes, strengthening the resilience of the construction sector and ensuring new homes are delivered to high standards within a timely manner.
