NHBRC talks Alternative Building Technologies (ABT)

Assessment of ABT
Any house to be built in an area under the jurisdiction of a local authority falls within the scope
of the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act (Act 103 0f 1977), and the
regulations made in terms of that act. The regulations include mandatory performance
requirements that support the objectives of the act. Guidance in the application of the regulation
may be found in SANS 10400: The Application of the National Building Regulations.
SANS 10400 contains prescriptive rules for any form of construction that are deemed to satisfy
the National Building Regulations. The application of these rules is not mandatory; therefore the
owner of the house is allowed to utilize any means to satisfy the requirements of the National
Building Regulations.
There are various non-mandatory ways in which one could comply with the requirements of the
National Building Regulations. These include:
Prescriptive deemed-to-satisfy rules
Rational design or assessment
A valid Agrment certificate
Prescriptive Deemed-to-Satisfy Rules
There are various prescriptive standards (codes of practice) that are intended to simplify the
application of the regulations.
SANS 10400: The code of practice for the application of the National Building Regulations with
deemed-to-satisfy rules is applicable for house construction in South Africa. This code
reproduces the regulations and covers provisions for building site inspections, building design
and construction that are deemed satisfactory. Compliance with the deemed-to-satisfy rules is a
direct approach to ensure that the regulations have been applied. However, deemed-to-satisfy
rules are not regulations and therefore not mandatory.
SANS 10401: The Code of Practice for the construction of dwelling houses in accordance with
the National Building Regulations covers the deemed-to-satisfy rules for housing and includes:
- Conventional housing
- Incremental housing and
- Informal housing
The role of NHBRC is to enforce compliance with National Building Regulation requirements by
the home builders in the home building industry. The NHBRC home building manuals are
compiled in line with SANS 10400 and SANS 10401. The NHBRC manuals have been
simplified and the deemed-to-satisfy rules are more user-friendly in these manuals.
Any revisions to the codes are reflected in the home building manuals. Therefore, compliance
with NHBRC manuals ensures that the regulations have been applied. The rules contained in
the manuals are not regulations and therefore not mandatory. The current NHBRC manuals are
the Revision 1. The NHBRCs Technical Division is currently reviewing the manuals in line with
the revision of relevant SANS standards and codes of practice.

Rational Design or Assessment
The purpose of rational designs is to ensure fitness-for-purpose of the elements covered by
the design. Rational designs are required in respect of housing systems or components, which
comprise materials and/or elements whose properties, characteristics and behavior may be
known or unknown. In both cases, a competent person (as defined under the Engineering
Profession of South Africa Act, Act 114 of 1990), is required to produce the rational design.
The rational design would include a detailed structural analysis and detail design of critical
members and connection design details.
The NHBRCs Technical Division reviews the rational designs and once it demonstrates
compliance to National Building Regulations a letter of approval is issued to the system owner.
The performance of alternative systems is reviewed annually and the letters of approval
renewed provided that the NHBRC has not received any reports of system failure.
Valid Agrment SA Certificate
Agrment SA is an independent organisation which primarily focuses on the certification of non-
standardised or innovative building products through technical assessments that verify whether
the products and systems are fit for purpose. Agrment certifies products where no national
standards are applicable and their certification process is performance based. A valid Agrment
certificate will comply with the National Building regulations and is accepted by NHBRC for
enrolment of non standardised and alternate housing construction.
Assessment criteria
The criteria follows an outline of the information required to perform a rational design
assessment:
The system owner is required to provide rational design calculations which satisfy the National
Building Regulations. The report must include design assumptions, detailed calculations,
references to the necessary design standards and detailed design drawings. The structural
design calculations must clearly demonstrate structural integrity and stability, including
connection details. The design calculations should have proper sketches annotated in English,
and using SI notation.
The submission must demonstrate that the elements designed have adequate performance at
the serviceability limit state and at the ultimate limit state.
The submission report to NHBRC should address the following topics and demonstrate
compliance:
(i) Structural Performance (Strength and Stability)
(ii) Fire resistance
(iii) Water Penetration
(iv) Condensation
(v) Thermal
(vi) Durability
(vii) Acoustics
(viii) Construction manual (process)
(ix) Quality manual (quality control)
The submission must be made by system owner and certified by a competent engineer
registered by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) in a professional category in
terms of Act No. 46 of 2000.
For further information on the approval of Alternate Building Technologies contact our engineer,
Mr. Paimaan Byron, on +27-11-317 0087 or email: PaimaanB@nhbrc.org.za.