In 2023, Timber Unlimited sought widespread industry feedback on the new Timber Structures Standard (NZS AS 1720.1:2022), released in October 2022, which led us to identify several errors and challenges associated with the Standard. To date, we have received over 150 items through our website and other email submissions from the industry.
Our first job was to thoroughly understand the scope and scale of these issues from an industry user perspective, detail the reported issues and analyse the initial industry-proposed "solutions". We have now classified the issues into five distinct categories based on their impact and the effort/resources required for correction. This comprehensive summary has been shared with MBIE (BSP) and Standards NZ.
While some issues are relatively minor, others will require substantial effort to determine the best path for satisfactory solutions to enhance the Standard. With the help of an industry-based Technical Project Group, we are currently assessing each category item with the goal of formulating a set of well-considered recommendations. We are aiming to present these to MBIE (BSP) and Standards NZ soon and have the Standard corrected and updated to ensure it is truly fit for purpose. Our target is to have these recommendations finalised and made available for use by the end of March 2024.
But it’s not too late to contribute to this process! You can still report any issues you encounter while using the Standard the link below.
A huge thanks to everyone who has contributed so far.
