The changes brought about by the recent parts of Amendment 16 that affect NZBC B1/VM1, 5.0 Steel will have major impacts on the whole industry.
This amendment has introduced the new Standard AS/NZS 5131: 2016, Structural Steelwork - Fabrication and Erection. The new clauses in B1/VM1, 5.0 Steel, now modify NZS 3404.1: 1997 Steel Structures Standard, by referencing and substituting parts of AS/NZS 5131. This provides new methods of compliance for:
- documentation requirements (some)
- fabrication
- erection
- modifications to existing structures
- architecturally exposed structural steel
- inspections of welding and bolting
- evaluation of slip factors
- avoidance of lamellar tearing
As you can imagine these items have a major effects on what and how you would specify steelwork. However it goes deeper than that. AS/NZS 5131 approaches things differently and introduces a lot of new (or nearly new) concepts and terms. It also formalises Quality Control and Management more than we have been used to in the past.
As a result, Construction Category (CC), Tolerance Class, Architecturally Exposed Structural Steelwork (AESS), Traceability, etc, will now become common terms.
Masterspec has been working with other steel industry groups investigating the integration of AS/NZS 5131 into the New Zealand industry, as it was expected that eventually it would be the main document used. However we were somewhat caught out by the speed and timing of this adoption by MBIE.
At Masterspec we had already reviewed our steel sections with regard to AS/NZS 5131, and were planning the almost total rewrite of the steelwork sections. Although ahead of programme, we are now urgently carrying out the re-writes to the main steelwork sections and upgrades to some of the related sections. Our aim is to publish the main steelwork section some time during May and the related sections later.
Note the Standard with Amendment 16 is effective from 3 April 2018 and supersedes all previous versions of this document. The previous version of this document (Amendment 15) will cease to have effect on 30 June 2018, allowing an almost 3 month transition period.
LINKS:
If you need to refer to AS/NZS 5131: 2016, Structural Steelwork - Fabrication and Erection, it is available through Masterspec for those with Standards OnLine.
(N.B. You must be logged in and have a current Standards OnLine subscription to view)
NZBC B1/VM1 for the new clauses.
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