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. That is because:

• Four jurisdictions are working to NCC 2022 until 1 May 2027: NSW, Queensland, Tasmania and, for building work, South Australia.

• One has not adopted NCC 2025 at all.

• 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 2027 (NCC 2025 applied 1 May – 4 June 2026)	NCC 2022 reinstated 5 June 2026 – 1 May 2027
VIC	1 May 2026	—
WA	1 May 2026	12 months

Four 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.

• Tasmania went back to NCC 2022. NCC 2025 applied from 1 May 2026, but the Building Amendment Act 2026 reinstated NCC 2022 from 5 June 2026 until 1 May 2027, for building and plumbing work. A project approved under NCC 2025 between 1 May and 4 June 2026 is completed to NCC 2025.

• NSW and Queensland deferred to 1 May 2027. Until then the edition in force is NCC 2022 Amendment 2. NSW has also said it will make variations of its own to NCC 2025.

• The Northern Territory has not adopted NCC 2025. Not deferred, not adopted.

In NSW, Queensland or Tasmania, or on building work in South Australia? Nothing in section 2 binds a project lodged there before 1 May 2027, apart from a Tasmanian project approved under NCC 2025 between 1 May and 4 June 2026. Read section 2 to plan template changes. Section 3 applies wherever you are: the lead-free plumbing dates come from Plumbing Code clause A5G4(2), which is the same in NCC 2022 and NCC 2025.

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: water, rainwater, stormwater, drainage system, drained, redirected, collected, self-draining, rising damp, sub-surface water, surface water seepage and allotment, and surface water is redefined.

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. 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. Wherever gas systems are installed, electrical system readiness requirements are added (J8D3, J8D4, J8D5, J6D10 and S33C2). 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.

  • The fire hazard properties in S7C4.

  Each carries a transition note.

• S5C11 now allows fire-protected steel in Type A construction in certain circumstances, and fire-protected steel is a new defined term.

This is the change to work through first if your practice relies on expert-judgement Performance Solutions for structure or fire. The same applies if you rely on test evidence from a laboratory that is not accredited.

Access and egress — wayfinding becomes a requirement

• D1P10 (new Performance Requirement) requires wayfinding signage. 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 (D3D22). Threshold ramps also get new concessions (D3D11(3)). Step ramp, threshold ramp and kerb ramp are new defined terms.

• D2D8 now applies its aggregate exit widths to a fire compartment that relies on horizontal exits, as well as to a storey, a mezzanine or an open spectator stand.

• Small sized, low-speed automatic lifts are no longer permitted: E3D7(1) no longer lists them, 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. It also 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.

Ventilation and kitchen exhaust

• F6D6 now names AS 1668.4 as an optional specification for natural ventilation.

• F6D12 drops the word “commercial”, so any kitchen whose cooking apparatus exceeds the clause's power thresholds needs an exhaust hood system.

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 clause A5G4(2) of the Plumbing Code of Australia (NCC Volume Three), which arrived in NCC 2022 and is unchanged in NCC 2025. That clause 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

1. Dead Part F3 references. Sweep specifications, DA reports, checklists and drawing notes. Part F3 does not exist in NCC 2025.

2. 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.

3. 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 NSW, Queensland and Tasmania, and for building work in South Australia, NCC 2022 Amendment 2 remains the code you are assessed against until 1 May 2027.

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.

• The limits on Expert Judgement in structural and fire safety Performance Solutions.

Sources: ABCB, NCC 2025 state and territory adoption information (verified 28 September 2026); HIA, Tasmania reinstates NCC 2022 (22 June 2026); Australian Institute of Architects, National Construction Code 2025 update – Tasmania (5 June 2026); NSW Government, NSW to adopt new National Construction Code in May 2027 (25 March 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.