New South Wales will adopt the new National Construction Code (NCC) 2025 on 1 May 2027, allowing the state’s building industry additional time to adjust to the updated requirements while maintaining the delivery of much-needed housing.
The NCC is Australia’s primary set of building standards, outlining essential health, safety, amenity, and sustainability requirements. It is published by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) in collaboration with the Australian and state and territory governments.
NCC 2025 introduces new provisions for the commercial construction sector and implements a targeted range of quality and safety improvements for residential buildings.
A preview version of the NCC 2025, recently released by the ABCB, provides details on the changes and will be available for adoption by states and territories from 1 May 2026.
The NSW government’s decision to provide a 12-month transition period before the new code takes effect is designed to ease the shift for builders and developers.
The extension aims to balance reform implementation with the continued delivery of housing supply across the state.
According to the government, the delayed adoption will “provide the construction industry with more time to adjust to the changes so they can continue to build homes while ensuring key amendments in the code can still be applied to new building work without significant delay”.
The transition is also intended to “minimise future compliance risk and disruption to projects set to commence early next year”.
NSW also plans to introduce a number of state-specific variations to the NCC 2025 to ensure alignment with existing legislation and policy priorities.
These adjustments are designed to reduce the regulatory burden on residential builders and prevent overlap or conflict with NSW’s technical building, plumbing, and drainage standards.
Among the key variations, apartment building owners undertaking remedial building works will be able to choose between applying the waterproofing provisions in the current NCC or adopting those in the new NCC 2025.
The NSW government says this flexibility will help keep costs manageable for homeowners while maintaining strong building standards.
Additionally, the state intends to exempt the common areas of apartment buildings from the new energy efficiency standards set out in the national code.
Full details of NSW’s variations will be made available when the complete NCC 2025 documentation is published on 1 May 2026.
Minister for Building Anoulack Chanthivong said the government’s approach strikes a balance between advancing building quality and supporting the construction sector through the transition.
“The Minns Labor government is focused on building more homes to buy and rent for the people of NSW,” Mr Chanthivong said.
“We are working in lockstep with the construction industry to ensure these homes are high-quality, safe and sustainable.
“The NCC 2025 represents sensible and reasonable steps towards that goal.
“We want to make sure this does not cause disruption to the construction sector’s ability to deliver homes and meet housing demand in NSW, which is why we have provided a 12-month transition period to the new NCC requirements.
“This transition period will also minimise future compliance risk by allowing industry to plan for the changes in the NCC 2025 and factor them into their new projects ahead of time.”
