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Many audits, subsequent to various fire incidents, revealed that the failure to prevent the use of non-compliant and non-conforming building products earlier in the process have been mainly attributed to the inability of the existing building and building product certification processes to mitigate the risks of having non-compliance and non-conformance. This paper presents findings from a research project in Western Australia (WA) set up to evaluate and manage the risks of non-compliance and non-conformance of building products, with a specific focus on (although not limited to) aluminum composite panels as an external cladding material, across the project processes by mapping the lifecycle of building products used in building projects. The research is underpinned by the basic principles of risk management applied in the construction industry but considering the impact of the regulatory environment.

Lessons learnt from various jurisdictions indicated a real need for reform to the current building and building product certification processes unique to a jurisdiction in order to better manage such risks in these jurisdictions. This research focuses on a specific jurisdiction, namely the WA. The methodology used to gather and analyse data was both a quantitative and qualitative approach, facilitated through administering an online questionnaire followed by validation and refinement of interviews involving practitioners from WA.

The findings demonstrated that mitigating such risks will be feasible if an integrated and concerted approach is applied. Such a holistic approach has also unveiled specific potential reforms to the current building product certification framework that could be implemented to mitigate such risks. All of these led to the development of an idealised building product certification framework as the main contributions of this research.

The proposed idealised framework can be used as the framework to instigate reforms aiming to reduce the risks of allowing non-compliant and non-conforming building products within the WA jurisdiction. Whilst the framework was developed using the data from, and therefore aimed for the WA jurisdiction, the methodology applied here can be used as the basis to develop further frameworks in other jurisdictions.

Reconstruction processes after an earthquake require estimating repair costs to decide on whether to repair or rebuild. This requires an accurate post-earthquake cost estimation tool. Currently, there are no post-earthquake loss estimation models to estimate repair costs accurately. There are loss assessment tools available, namely, HAZUS, performance assessment calculation tool (PACT), seismic performance and loss assessment tool (SLAT) and seismic performance prediction tool, which have not been specifically used for post-earthquake repair cost estimation. This paper aims to focus on identifying factors that need to be considered when upgrading these tools for post-earthquake repair cost estimation.

The research was conducted as an exploratory study using a literature review, document analysis of the PACT, SLAT and HAZUS software and 18 semi-structured interviews.

The research identified information sources available for estimation and factors to be considered when developing estimations based on the information sources.

The data was collected from professionals who were involved mostly in housing repair work in New Zealand. Therefore, impact of these repair work factors might vary in other forms of structures such as civil structures include bridges and the country as a result of varying construction details and standards.

The identified factors will be used to improve the loss estimation tools are such as PACT and HAZUS, as well as to develop a post-earthquake repair cost estimation tool.

Currently, the identified factors impacting post-earthquake damage repair cost estimations are not considered in loss estimation tools. Factors identified in this research will help to develop a more accurate cost estimation tool for post-earthquake repair work.