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Standards in State Library Victoria

Guide to Australian manufacturing standards, accounting standards, food code, building code and design rules

Victorian Building Regulations

In order to search for other building laws and regulations prior to the BCA and NCC, it would be best to search the Library's online catalogue using the terms Building laws -- Victoria  and selecting the 'in Subject' category from the drop-down menu on the right-hand side.

Uniform Building Regulations

Prior to the consolidation of building laws and regulations into the Building Code of Australia, there were various editions of the Uniform Building Regulations which directed and defined building laws in Victoria, from 1945 to 1974. 

This link to the Uniform Building Regulations will take you to the Library's online catalogue entry listing the various editions from 1945 to 1974 which were published separately and can be requested from storage.

The full-text of the Uniform Building Regulations from 1945 to 1961 can also be found in the Victoria Government Gazette which is digitised and available online.  After 1961 any amendments to the regulations were merely announced in the Gazette. Searching the Government Gazette can be complicated and takes some practise so the issue and date details of the various UBRs  published in the Gazette are given below.

After 1961, the Uniform Building Regulations unless published separately and held by the Library, can be found most readily in  the Victoria Statutory Rules. More recent rules can be accessed online, older issues are available in print.

  • the 1969 Uniform Building Regulations -- which came under the Local Government Act 1958 is Statutory Rule (S.R.) 111/1969.  It is in the 1969 Victoria Statutory Rules located at: B 346.9945 PU in the Redmond Barry Reading Room
  • the 1974 Uniform Building Regulations -- which came under the Local Government Act 1958, is Statutory Rule (S.R.) 348 /1973 , can be found in full-text in volume 2 of the 1973 Victoria Statutory Rules located at B 346.9945 PU in the Redmond Barry Reading Room
    • Please note the separately published 1974 edition of our UBR is unavailable.
  • the 1974 Uniform Building Regulation was replaced by the Victoria Building Regulations 1983 .The 1983 Victoria Building Regulations came under the Building Control Act 1981. The only full-text version of the 1983 Victoria Building Regulations held by the Library is Statutory Rule (S.R.) 273 of 1983.  It can be requested from storage.

Searching the Statutory Rules indexes becomes more complicated the earlier you search, as they were at times listed under the Local Government Act and at later times under the Building Control Act. When searching indexes it is useful to familiarise yourself with the parameters of the indexes being searched and to use a range of search terms.

Information and access to resources relating to the Building Code of Australia and its successor, can be found on the National Construction Code page of this guide.