Compliance requirements for glazing and signage

19 August 2020

Glazing is often a large part of shop and office fitout design. There are many areas that need to be looked at to ensure compliance under the National Construction Code (NCC).

It is important to select the correct type of glass for an application, such as safety glass, or acoustically or fire rated glass.

The NCC states “on an accessway, where there is no chair rail, handrail or transom, all frameless or fully glazed doors, sidelights and any glazing capable of being mistaken for a doorway or opening, must be clearly marked in accordance with AS 1428.1.”

This is often something that is overlooked and is prominent in new works undertaken for offices and training rooms. This often can be the cause of a final inspection not passing.

The visual indication of glazing requires contrasting lines, not less than 75mm in width must be provided across the full width of the glazing, with the lowest portion of the line being between 900-1000mm above the finished floor level. It is also a requirement that the line used achieves a minimum 30% contrast when viewed against other surfaces within 2m.

A similar requirement applies to identify doorways, where a luminance contrast of 30% must be provided between:

• The door and door jamb; or
• The door and adjacent wall; or
• The architrave and the door; or
• The door jamb and adjacent wall.

Note: not all options will comply in all scenarios, as the minimum width of the contrast element is 50mm.

Where you may be unsure on the requirements, your certifier should be able to provide further guidance.