Livable Housing Design Assessments & Certification
Realm Access provides expert advice and comprehensive design assessments to ensure compliance with certification requirements for Livable Housing.
Livable homes are designed with features that make dwellings safer, easier to enter, more comfortable to move around in, and more easily adapted to meet the changing needs of occupants over their lifetime. Livable design features are particularly beneficial for families with young children, the elderly, and people with reduced mobility, whether that be from a temporary injury or surgery, or a permanent mobility disability.
The Livable Housing Design Guidelines, developed by Livable Housing Australia (LHA), began as a set of voluntary guidelines that are now referenced by many state, territory and local government authority planning and development requirements. The ‘Silver’ level of the Guidelines formed the basis of the Australian Building Codes Board Livable Housing Design Standard which is referenced by the National Construction Code and sets out minimum mandatory requirements for the design of houses and apartments.
Livable Housing Design Guidelines Assessments & Certification
The Livable Housing Design Guidelines were produced by Livable Housing Australia and established a baseline for Universal Design principles and access for Australian dwellings. The Guidelines have been important in creating housing that is safe, comfortable and versatile for a diverse range of people. The key design features respond to the changing needs of occupants across all stages of their life and make a home more livable for everyone: easier for parents to manoeuvre prams, easier to carry the shopping inside, easier for people who use mobility aids to get around, easier to move furniture, and easier and more cost effective to retrofit elements like grabrails in bathrooms to support aging in place.
The Livable Housing Design Guidelines Fourth Edition is the current version of the Guidelines. It outlines three levels of performance – Silver, Gold and Platinum – with 15 livable design elements in total. Each element provides guidance on what performance is expected to achieve either Silver, Gold or Platinum level accreditation.
Silver Level
Silver level incorporates the seven core livable design elements focusing on key structural and spatial requirements to ensure future flexibility and adaptability and avoid costly home modification if required at a later date:
Element 1: A safe, continuous, step-free path of travel from the street entrance and / or parking area to a level dwelling entrance.
Element 2: At least one level, step-free entrance into the dwelling.
Element 3: Internal doors and corridors that are slightly wider than a typical dwelling to facilitate comfortable and unrestricted movement between spaces.
Element 4: A toilet on the ground or entry level that provides easier access for occupants and visitors who have limited mobility.
Element 5: A bathroom that includes a hobless shower recess.
Element 6: Reinforcement to walls around the toilet, shower and bath to facilitate safe and cost-effective installation of grabrails at a later date.
Element 7: Stairways designed to minimise the risk of injury and enable future adaptation.
Gold Level
Gold level includes more generous dimensions for most of the core livable housing design elements and introduces additional elements for areas such as kitchens, laundries and bedrooms that support ease of movement and adaptation.
Platinum Level
Platinum level includes all 15 elements. Platinum design elements provide further enhancements on the Silver and Gold levels to better accommodate ageing in place and people with higher mobility needs. This level requires more generous dimensions for most of the core livable design elements and introduces additional requirements for the living room, windows and flooring.
Livable Housing Australia ceased operations at the end of the 2024-2025 financial year. On the 1st of July 2025, LHA officially handed over responsibility for the registration and administration of LHA assessors to Access Institute. There are no changes to the Silver, Gold and Platinum Level requirements as a result of the transition.
NCC Livable Housing Design Standard Assessments
The Australian Building Codes Board Livable Housing Design Standard provides a set of technical provisions intended to ensure dwellings better meet the changing needs of Australians over their lifetime. The requirements of the Standard have been adopted by all states and territories except New South Wales and Western Australia.
The Livable Housing Design Standard is referenced by the deemed-to-satisfy provisions of NCC Volume 1 Part G7 and NCC Volume 2 Part H8 and is applicable to:
Class 1a buildings (houses, town houses, terraces houses and the like); and
Sole-occupancy units in Class 2 buildings (apartments).
The requirements were adapted from the Silver level of the Livable Housing Design Guidelines Fourth Edition, published by Livable Housing Australia. However, in order to convert it for use as a regulatory Standard, and in response to stakeholder feedback, the Livable Housing Design Standard is not an exact replication of LHA Silver level. It’s also important to note the Standard is a set of minimum mandatory requirements for NCC compliance for improved livability, rather than an exemplar of best-practice for accommodation for people with disabilities: dwellings designed to meet the Standard don’t achieve equivalence with AS 1428.1 and the provisions may not accommodate the needs of all home occupants.
Realm Access has extensive experience in providing expert advice and comprehensive design assessments to ensure compliance with minimum mandatory certification requirements for Livable Housing.
We work across the full spectrum of housing and accommodation, from livable, adaptable and accessible housing, to NDIS Specialist Disability Accommodation.
Our broad knowledge of accessibility and Universal Design ensures we are ideally placed to provide practical and tailored recommendations to help create homes that are safe, supportive, comfortable and customised to meet each project’s specific needs.