The International Code Council (ICC) has announced the establishment of its Oceania regional office in Canberra, Australia, led by Neil Savery, managing director of ICC Oceania. The regional office brings the diverse services, skills, and expertise of the International Code Council’s family of solutions to Australia and New Zealand to help promote building safety through collaboration with local authorities and the provision of solutions for practitioners within the building sector. Many of the International Code Council’s solutions, particularly those relating to conformity assessment through ICC Evaluation Service (ICC-ES), will address unmet needs in the region.  

“The solutions and expertise available from the International Code Council have the potential to make a huge impact in Australia, which is experiencing regulatory reform following a series of high-profile building failures,” Savery said. “The product certifications and expert opinions available from ICC-ES have the potential to reframe the system under which innovative products and designs are assessed both in Australia and New Zealand.”

Savery comes to ICC Oceania from the Australian Building Codes Board, where he served as CEO for nine years. “We are pleased to have Neil leading our operations in Oceania,” said International Code Council CEO Dominic Sims, CBO. “His deep knowledge of the building regulations and stakeholders in Australia coupled with his passion to improve building safety will greatly benefit our partners in the region.”   

The scope of service ICC-ES includes accreditations for product evaluation to the Australian and New Zealand building codes, which enables the use of Evaluation Service Reports (referred to as Evaluation Service Appraisal reports in the Oceania markets) as evidence of compliance with the Australian National Construction Code and the New Zealand Building Code.  

ICC-ES is a JASANZ (Joint Accreditation Service of Australia and New Zealand) accredited Conformity Assessment Body for the WaterMark Certification Scheme, to serve plumbing product manufacturers marketing their products in Australia and recognized in New Zealand.  

“Having a physical presence in the region allows for closer engagement with the regulatory authorities, manufacturers, design specifiers, and building officials and enables us to bring ICC conformity assessment solutions to markets that need them,” said Shahin Moinian, P.E., executive vice president of the International Code Council Conformity Assessment Group. “At ICC-ES, we believe that what we do helps save lives, and our work provides this benefit in Australia and New Zealand just as much as it does in the United States.”

For more information about how to access the International Code Council family of solutions in the Oceania region, including contact information for the International Code Council’s Oceania regional office, visit www.iccsafe.org/oceania.