NCC 2025: What Changed, and When Your State Adopts It
NCC 2025 became available for adoption on 1 May 2026. Four months on, it is still not the code most Australian projects are assessed against. Here is who is on it, who is not, and what actually changed at clause level.
If you are designing, certifying or building right now, the first question is not what changed. It is which edition governs this project, in this state, at this lodgement date — because three of the largest jurisdictions are still working to NCC 2022 Amendment 2, one has not adopted NCC 2025 at all, and two that adopted on day one are running a twelve-month transition.
1. Who has actually adopted NCC 2025
Adoption is a decision for each state and territory, not the ABCB. As at September 2026:
| Jurisdiction | NCC 2025 adoption | Transition |
|---|---|---|
| ACT | 1 May 2026 | 12 months |
| NSW | 1 May 2027 | — |
| NT | Not adopted | — |
| QLD | 1 May 2027 | — |
| SA | PCA 1 May 2026 · BCA 1 May 2027 | — |
| TAS | 1 May 2026 | — |
| VIC | 1 May 2026 | — |
| WA | 1 May 2026 | 12 months |
Three things in that table catch people out:
South Australia is split. The Plumbing Code of Australia moved to NCC 2025 on 1 May 2026, but the Building Code of Australia does not follow until 1 May 2027. An SA project running through to next May is genuinely working from two editions at once.
NSW and Queensland deferred to 1 May 2027. Voluntary early adoption has been open since May 2026, but the edition in force is still NCC 2022 Amendment 2. NSW has also flagged its own variations to NCC 2025 before it commences.
The Northern Territory has not adopted NCC 2025. Not deferred — not adopted.
In NSW or Queensland? Nothing in section 2 binds a project lodged before 1 May 2027 unless you choose to design to NCC 2025 early. Read it to plan template changes, then go to section 3, which applies to you now: the lead-free plumbing dates are an NCC 2022 provision.
2. What changed, section by section
Water management — the largest structural change in the code
This is the change most likely to break your office templates. Part F3 has been deleted entirely and its requirements folded into a rewritten Part F1, which has also been renamed.
F1P1 was re-written and now carries the requirements previously split across F1P2 and F1P3. F1P3 is deleted; NCC 2022's F1P4 has moved to F1P2.
F1D4 (new) requires falls and drainage for concrete roofs, balconies, podiums and similar elements. F1D5 (new) specifies how those elements are constructed.
F1D10 (new) sets surface finish requirements.
F1D7 now includes membrane installation requirements. F1D8, F1D14 and F1D15 remove concessions that previously applied to certain Class 7 and Class 8 buildings.
A cluster of new defined terms arrives with it: rainwater, drainage system, drained, redirected, collected, self-draining, rising damp, surface water, sub-surface water and allotment.
The practical consequence: every “Part F3” reference in a specification, drawing note, checklist or DA report is now a dead reference in an NCC 2025 jurisdiction.
Condensation management
F8D3 adds further membrane vapour permeance specifications that vary with wall construction, plus more detail on cavity construction.
F8D5 has been narrowed. In NCC 2022 it applied to all roof spaces; in NCC 2025 it applies only where the primary insulation layer is not parallel to the roof plane.
F8D6 (new) picks up the other case — roof spaces where the primary insulation layer is parallel to the roof plane.
The defined term condensation now says “liquid water” rather than “moisture”, cavity has been widened to cover additional wall types, and control layer is new.
Section J energy efficiency
Section J has been reworked, and one carve-out matters more than the rest:
Class 2 buildings are out. References to Class 2 have been removed throughout Section J of NCC 2025, and a Note directs you back to Section J of NCC 2022 Amendment 2 for Class 2 work.
J1P1 and J1V1 reflect updated performance targets. J1V2 removes the “Design & As Built” option.
J3D6 has been deleted — thermal bridging control is now treated as inherent in complying with wall-glazing U-value requirements.
Climate zone 1–3 concessions are gone across J5D4, J5D5(1), J5D6 and J5D7.
J9D5 now requires on-site solar photovoltaic systems, or equivalent renewable generation.
Electrification readiness appears throughout — J8D3, J8D4, J8D5, J6D10 and S33C2 add electrical system readiness requirements wherever gas systems are installed. Gas heater efficiencies are consolidated to a single 90% gross thermal efficiency figure.
Structural reliability and fire safety — the Performance Solution squeeze
This is the sleeper change, and it narrows who can justify what.
A2G2 gains a sub-clause requiring that Performance Solutions for structural reliability be at least equivalent to a solution developed using the Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions.
Expert Judgement is now limited. A2G2(2)(c) is prohibited as an Assessment Method in Performance Solutions for certain Performance Requirements, to the extent they relate to structural or fire safety.
B1P1 has been rewritten, B1P2 deleted and the rest of Part B1 renumbered. B1V1 now incorporates component variability factors.
Accredited Testing Laboratory testing is now mandatory for determining combustibility (AS 1530.1), critical radiant flux, Flammability Index, Smoke-Developed Index, EW classification under C1V3, and the fire hazard properties in S7C4. Each carries a transition note.
If your practice relies on expert-judgement Performance Solutions for structure or fire, or on test evidence from a laboratory that is not accredited, this is the change to work through first.
Access and egress — wayfinding becomes a requirement
D1P10 (new Performance Requirement) requires wayfinding signage, and D3D31 (new) requires identification of stairways, floor levels and sole-occupancy units.
D3D27 extends to Class 2, 3, 6 and 7a buildings with enhanced re-entry provisions.
New concessions arrive for step ramps, threshold ramps, kerb ramps and handrails under D3D22, and for threshold ramps under D3D11(3). Kerb ramp is a new defined term.
Small sized, low-speed automatic lifts are no longer permitted (E3D7(1)(e)), and the defined term has been deleted.
Sanitary facilities
F4D4(6) extends the requirement for a means of disposal of sanitary products to all sanitary facilities, and requires a dispenser for sanitary products in facilities for use by females.
F4D4(12)–(14) are new, allowing all-gender sanitary facilities as a Deemed-to-Satisfy Solution in lieu of separate male and female facilities.
Table F4D4i requires additional closet pans for female patrons.
Carparks
Open-deck carparks that form part of multi-classified buildings lose their concession under S5C19(1) and S5C22(1) unless adequately sprinkler protected. E1D9 removes the matching concession and requires sprinklers in fire compartments where car stackers are installed.
3. Lead-free plumbing: the date most people are getting wrong
Lead-free plumbing is widely reported as an NCC 2025 change with a 1 May 2026 cut-off. Both halves of that are worth correcting.
It is not an NCC 2025 change. It is NCC 2022 clause A5G4, which limits copper alloy plumbing products intended for drinking water to a weighted average lead content of not more than 0.25%. And it has two separate dates:
1 May 2026 — certification. From this date manufacturers may only produce Lead Free WaterMark certified copper alloy plumbing products.
30 April 2028 — installation. Plumbing practitioners may continue installing existing WaterMark certified stock until this date. From 1 May 2028 the Lead Free WaterMark trademark is required.
A good deal of industry commentary has collapsed those into a single 2026 installation ban. If you have specified a product changeover on that basis, it is worth re-checking against the ABCB transition arrangements.
4. Three traps to check this week
Dead Part F3 references. Sweep specifications, DA reports, checklists and drawing notes. Part F3 does not exist in NCC 2025.
Mixed-edition projects. South Australia runs the 2025 Plumbing Code alongside the 2022 Building Code until May 2027. Make sure the plumbing and building consultants know which edition each is working to.
Class 2 energy efficiency. Even in an NCC 2025 jurisdiction, Class 2 Section J work points back to NCC 2022 Amendment 2.
5. What to do now
Establish the governing edition per project — by jurisdiction and lodgement date — before you touch the technical content. In a deferred state, NCC 2022 Amendment 2 remains the code you are assessed against, and designing to NCC 2025 voluntarily is a decision to make deliberately rather than by accident.
Then work the four changes with the longest lead times: the Part F1 water management rewrite, the Section J targets and solar requirement, the Accredited Testing Laboratory evidence requirements, and the limits on Expert Judgement in structural and fire safety Performance Solutions.
AEC Assistant searches the full text of NCC 2025 and NCC 2022 and Australia-wide planning information, and resolves the edition in force for the state you are working in — so you get the clause that applies to your project, with the source alongside it. Paid plans add deeper knowledge of the standards the code references. Try it free.
Sources: ABCB, NCC 2025 state and territory adoption information (verified 2 September 2026); List of amendments, NCC 2025 Volume One; ABCB, transition to lead free plumbing products. Current at September 2026. Adoption dates and variations change — confirm against your jurisdiction's building authority before relying on them.