Masterguard makes achieving building compliance easy and stress free. We can manage the whole process for you, ensuring certification of all systems, completing monthly and annual inspections, issuing the relevant certificates, dealing with the local council on your behalf and collating all the relevant information needed by the council to issue your Building WOF.

If you need help understanding what your requirements are, or how to achieve compliance please feel free to contact us and we can work through it with you.

What is Building Compliance?
Building compliance, or a building WOF, is required annually to ensure a building is safe, and verifies that the inspection, maintenance and reporting procedures for all the specified systems within a building have been carried out in accordance with the Compliance Schedule, for the previous 12 months.
Failure to comply with the necessary regulations can result in heavy penalties as well as endangering the lives of the people using the premises, and potentially voiding your insurance cover.  It is the building owner’s responsibility to ensure compliance is achieved. The owner must then display a copy of the Building WOF in a place in the building where it can be seen by the public. The Council also needs a copy of the Building WOF, and certificates called Form 12As for each specified system.

When do we need a Building WOF?
Buildings containing certain safety features and specified systems, such as fire alarms, emergency lighting, mechanical ventilation and lifts, require a compliance schedule.  The owner must ensure continued effective operation of those features and systems and sign off the annual Building WOF.
Under the Building Act 2004, any building (except a single residential dwelling) will require a compliance schedule and annual building warrant of fitness if it contains any of the following:
  • automatic sprinkler systems 
  • automatic fire doors
  • emergency warning systems for fire or other dangers
  • emergency lighting systems
  • escape route pressurisation systems
  • riser mains for fire service use
  • automatic backflow preventer(s)
  • lifts, escalators, or travelators
  • mechanical ventilation or air conditioning systems serving all or a major part of the building
  • any other mechanical, electrical, hydraulic or electronic system, which must operate correctly to comply with the building code
  • building maintenance units, which provide access to the exterior and interior walls of buildings
  • such signs as are required by the building code in respect of any of the above mentioned systems.

Compliance Schedule
The compliance schedule is a document issued by the local council.  It lists the building’s safety features and essential services and the inspection, maintenance and reporting procedures needed to keep them in good working order.