8752.0 - Building Activity, Australia, Sep 2012 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 17/01/2013   
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GLOSSARY

Accommodation

Buildings primarily providing short-term or temporary accommodation, and includes the following categories:

  • Self-contained, short term apartments (e.g. serviced apartments)
  • Hotels (predominantly accommodation), motels, boarding houses, cabins
  • Other short term accommodation n.e.c. (e.g. migrant hostels, youth hostels, lodges).

Aged care facilities

Building used in the provision or support of aged care facilities, excluding dwellings (e.g. retirement villages). Includes aged care facilities with and without medical care.

Agriculture/aquaculture

Buildings housing, or associated with, agriculture and aquaculture activities, including bulk storage of produce (e.g. shearing shed, grain silo, shearers’ quarters).

Alterations and additions

Refer to Type of Work. The term 'Alterations and additions' in tables 26 to 35 refers to alterations and additions to residential buildings only.

Alterations & additions to residential buildings

Alterations and additions carried out on existing residential buildings, which may result in the creation of new dwelling units. See also 'Conversions, etc.' below.

Building

A building is a rigid, fixed and permanent structure which has a roof. Its intended purpose is primarily to house people, plant, machinery, vehicles, goods or livestock. An integral feature of a building’s design, to satisfy its intended use, is the provision for regular access by persons.

Commenced

A building is commenced when the first physical building activity has been performed on site in the form of materials fixed in place and/or labour expended (this includes site preparation but excludes delivery of building materials, the drawing of plans and specifications and the construction of non-building infrastructures, such as roads).

Commercial

Buildings primarily occupied with or engaged in commercial trade or work intended for commercial trade, including buildings used primarily in wholesale and retail trades, office and transport activities.

Completed

A building is completed when building activity has progressed to the stage where the building can fulfil its intended function.

Completion Value

The value of a building job including site preparation costs but excluding the value of land and landscaping. This may be an actual value (for completed work), or an anticipated value (for work yet to be completed). It is intended to be the final contract price or market value of the job when completed, or the best estimate of this quantity available.

Conversions, etc.

Refer to Type of Work.

Dwelling unit

A dwelling unit is a self-contained suite of rooms, including cooking and bathing facilities and intended for long-term residential use. Units (whether self-contained or not) within buildings offering institutional care, such as hospitals, or temporary accommodation such as motels, hostels and holiday apartments, are not defined as dwelling units. The value of units of this type is included in the appropriate category of non-residential building.

Educational

Buildings used in the provision or support of educational services, including group accommodation buildings (e.g. classrooms, school canteens, dormitories).

Entertainment and recreation

Buildings used in the provision of entertainment and recreational facilities or services (e.g. libraries, museums, casinos, sporting facilities).

Factories

Buildings housing, or associated with, production and assembly processes of intermediate and final goods.

Health

Buildings used in the provision of non-aged care medical services (e.g. nurses quarters, laboratories, clinics).

House

Refer to Type of Building.

Industrial

Buildings used for warehousing and the production and assembly activities of industrial establishments, including factories and plants.

New

Refer to Type of Work.

Non-residential building

Refer to Type of Building.

Number of dwelling unit commencements and completions

A residential building job may result in the creation of one or more dwellings. Multiple dwelling unit jobs can be buildings (such as apartment blocks) which contain several dwelling units, or a group of single dwellings (such as a project to build multiple houses to a subdivision). When a job commences all associated dwelling units are considered to have commenced in these statistics. Similarly, all dwelling units created by a job are considered to have completed when the job is completed. Progress on individual dwelling units are not tracked.

Offices

Buildings primarily used in the provision of professional services or public administration (e.g. offices, insurance or finance buildings).

Other residential building

Refer to Type of Building.

Religious

Buildings used for or associated with worship, or in support of programs sponsored by religious bodies (e.g. church, temple, church hall, dormitories).

Residential building

Refer to Type of Building.

Retail/wholesale trade

Buildings primarily used in the sale of goods to intermediate and end users.

Transport

Buildings primarily used in the provision of transport services, and includes the following categories:
  • Passenger transport buildings (e.g. passenger terminals)
  • Non-passenger transport buildings (e.g. freight terminals)
  • Commercial car parks (excluded are those built as part of, and intended to service, other distinct building developments)
  • Other transport buildings n.e.c.

Type of Building

Building's are classified as either:
  • Residential building
      A residential building is a building consisting predominantly of one or more dwelling units. Residential buildings can be either houses or other residential buildings.
        • A house is a detached building predominantly used for long-term residential purposes and consisting of only one dwelling unit. Thus, detached 'granny flats' and detached dwelling units (such as caretakers' residences) associated with non-residential buildings are defined as houses for the purpose of these statistics.
        • An other residential building is a building other than a house primarily used for long-term residential purposes and which contains (or has attached to it) more than one dwelling unit (e.g. includes blocks of flats, home units, attached townhouses, semi detached houses, maisonettes, duplexes, apartment buildings, etc.).
  • Non-residential building
      A non-residential building is primarily intended for purposes other than long term residential purposes. Note that, on occasions, one or more dwelling units may be created through non-residential building activity. Prior to the January 1998 issue of this publication, they have been included in the 'Conversions, etc.' column in tables showing dwelling units approved. They are now identified separately (e.g. see table 22). However, the value of these dwelling units cannot be separated out from that of the non-residential building which they are part of, therefore the value associated with these remain in the appropriate non-residential category.
      Non-residential building's are further classified by their functional use at time of approval.

Type of Work

The Type of Work classification refers to building activity approved to be carried out and consists of:
  • Alterations and additions
      Building activity carried out on existing buildings. Includes adding to or diminishing floor area, altering the structural design of a building and affixing rigid components which are intergral to the functioning of the building.
  • Conversion
      Building activity conversion is building activity which converts a non-residential building to a residential building, e.g. conversion of a warehouse to residential apartments. Conversion is considered to be a special type of alteration. 'Conversions, etc.' are the number of dwelling units created as part of alterations and additions to, or conversions of, existing residential or non-residential buildings and as part of the construction of non-residential building. 'Conversions, etc.' are shown separately in tables 22 and 25 and are included in the total number of dwelling units shown in these tables. However, while the value of conversions is included in the value of alterations and additions to residential buildings, the value of new dwelling units associated with non-residential buildings is included in the value of non-residential buildings.
  • New
      Building activity which will result in the creation of a building which previously did not exist.

Under construction

A building is regarded as being under construction at the end of a period if it has been commenced but has not been completed, and work on it has not been abandoned.

Value of building commenced or under construction

The anticipated completion value for jobs which started during the quarter (commenced), or which were under construction at the end of the quarter.

Value of building completed

The total completion value of jobs which completed in the quarter.

Value of building work done during the period

The estimated value of building work carried out during the quarter.

Value of building work yet to be done

The difference between the anticipated completion value and the estimated value of work done on jobs up to the end of the period for jobs under construction at the end of the period.

Warehouses

Buildings primarily used for storage of goods, excluding produce storage.