A meeting of building ministers has agreed on some high-tech new ideas.

The meeting in Sydney last Thursday was called in response to a sharp drop in confidence in the nation’s building sector, which has been triggered by a series of recent scandals around sub-standard buildings and combustible cladding usage.

The building ministers from all Australian state and territories agreed to fund a new taskforce to pursue nationally consistent building standards.

The Australian Building Codes Board - which sets the National Construction Code to help guide builders - will be expanded and given more resources.

The meeting has laid the foundation for a new national building industry database, which would collect and share data and intelligence to create a centralised source of building design and construction documentation.

Those at the meeting agreed to address the issues identified in the Shergold Weir Building Confidence report (PDF).

“It is frequently difficult to access all the relevant documents about the construction of a building, especially when the building has been sold,” the report says.

“It is imperative that jurisdictions collaborate with a view to ensuring that their central database enables intelligence sharing.

“This will inform each other’s compliance and enforcement activities and the work of the BMF [Building Ministers’ Forum].

“At a minimum, there needs to be agreement on the key data points that are congruent across all jurisdictions and upon which reliable information can be shared.”

The report suggests the ministers consider blockchain technology to secure the databases.

“To implement this recommendation, further work could usefully be undertaken by the BMF to identify the most appropriate technology to interface with each jurisdiction’s data platforms,” the report says.

“Emerging technologies, such as blockchain, should be considered for suitability. Potentially, it might provide a virtual ledger of all regulatory ‘transactions’ in a verifiable and auditable format.”