Is Specialist Disability Accommodation a Residential Care Building in Queensland

The Building Act 1975 establishes the laws and other documents for the assessment of building development applications under Section 30 and defines them as the Building Assessment Provisions.

The Building Code of Australia (BCA) and the Queensland Development Code (QDC) are both building assessment provisions and are both required to be applied where relevant.

The Building Act 1975 also states in Section 35 that should the BCA and the QDC be inconsistent than the QDC prevails or overrides the BCA in Queensland.

The BCA and the QDC both contain definitions of a residential care building (as shown below) and therefore the definition in the BCA is to be replaced with the definition in the QDC as it prevails in Queensland under Section 35 of the Building Act 1975.

Put simply a residential care building in Queensland is defined in the QDC.

A Residential Care Building has a definition below in the Building Code of Australia.

Residential care building means a Class 3, 9a or 9c building which is a place of residence where 10% or more of persons who reside there need physical assistance in conducting their daily activities and to evacuate the building during an emergency (including any aged care building or residential aged care building) but does not include a hospital.

A Residential Care Building has a definition below in the Queensland Development Code.

Residential care building means a building which is a place of residence where 10% or more of persons who reside there need physical assistance in conducting their daily activities and to
evacuate the building during an emergency (including any aged care building) but does not include:

1. a hospital; or
2. a dwelling in which 2 or more members of the same family and not more than 2 other persons would ordinarily be resident; or
3. a building accommodating five or less residents; or
4. a building in which only one resident requires physical assistance to conduct their daily activities and to evacuate the building during an emergency.