A new international model law designed to help governments strengthen building accountability and regulatory clarity has been released this week, marking what its developers describe as the first internationally developed, statute-ready framework of its kind and highlighting Australia’s contribution to global building regulatory reform. 

Drawing on contributions from legal and building control experts from Southern Cross University (Australia), the Model Building Act is intended to help governments design clearer and more accountable building regulatory systems – including clearer responsibility when building defects occur, stronger oversight of construction and certification processes, and clearer pathways for resolving disputes – issues that can otherwise leave homeowners and communities bearing the consequences when building failures occur. 

Developed by the International Building Quality Centre (IBQC), the Model Building Act provides a legislative framework that jurisdictions can adapt when reviewing or modernising building regulation.  

International construction initiatives have traditionally focused on technical standards and building codes; the Model Building Act instead focuses on how regulatory systems themselves are structured – including oversight, practitioner registration, inspection, liability, insurance and enforcement arrangements. 

Professor Charles Lemckert, Professor of Engineering and Discipline Chair, Engineering and Information Technology at Southern Cross University, and Deputy Chair of the IBQC, said the Model Act represents an important step in the evolution of international building regulation. 

“In my view, the International Model Building Act could well prove to be the most significant instrument the IBQC has produced to date,” Professor Lemckert said. 

“To my knowledge, it represents the first genuinely international model building statute – not guidance, not commentary, but a fully developed legislative framework capable of adoption or adaptation by reforming jurisdictions.” 

By addressing legislative and regulatory architecture rather than technical requirements alone, the Model Act brings together accountability, compliance, inspection and dispute resolution within a single integrated framework intended to support policy and law reform discussions. 

The legislative drafting of the Model Act was undertaken by Gemma Varley, former Victorian Chief Parliamentary Counsel and former Law Reform Commissioner. Adjunct Professor Kim Lovegrove, Chair of the IBQC and a member of the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Southern Cross University, prepared the drafting instructions and policy architecture underpinning the Act, drawing on decades of law reform and international regulatory advisory experience. 

Professor Lovegrove said effective building regulation plays an important role in maintaining public trust and market confidence. 

“These are not merely technical regulatory refinements. They are institutional enablers that influence investment confidence, market stability, and regulatory credibility,” he said. 

Download IBQC’s The Model Building Act