A structural engineer we often engage to certify that our balustrades will comply with Australian Standard 1170.1 amazed us recently when he gave his opinion about industry knowledge of the need for balustrades to meet the Australian Standard. He thought most builders and metal fabricators doing domestic work were years out of date on what the standard requires.
It’s amazing how long new information seems to take to percolate through an industry or profession. Apparently it’s no different in the medical profession – doctors still often believe what they were taught in medical school decades ago instead of what the latest literature shows.
We frequently get asked to add height to an existing balustrade in a strata complex. The request usually goes something like “we just need you to weld on another 100mm at the top, so the balustrade complies with the latest codes”. If only it was so easy. Adding height adds to the load the posts are required to withstand. The vast majority of old steel balustrades in strata buildings built in the 1970’s and 80’s had no chance of meeting the standard at the low height. To add height only makes it worse. We’ve never found a job yet that was suitable to add height to and don’t expect to.