Livable Housing Design

Livable Housing Design is the accessibility baseline the NCC sets for new homes, so a dwelling is easier to enter, move around, and adapt as occupants age or have mobility needs. It draws on the Livable Housing Australia Silver level and is now mandatory for new Class 1a and certain Class 2 dwellings in the states that have adopted the provisions (NCC 2022 introduced them; adoption and timing vary by state).

The core requirements (broadly the Silver level) include:

• a step-free entry to the dwelling on an accessible path,
• wider internal doorways and corridors so a wheelchair or walker can pass,
• a ground-floor toilet that is accessible,
• a step-free shower (a hobless or set-down shower) on the entry level, and
• reinforced bathroom and toilet walls so grab rails can be added later without rebuilding.

The detailing reaches back into the structure: the step-free entry drives slab set-down, paving falls, and threshold details; the reinforced walls have to be built in at frame and lining stage (you cannot add noggings behind tiled walls afterwards).

For a builder the practical points are to confirm whether the Livable Housing provisions apply to your job (they are state-and-date dependent) and to design them in from the start, because the items that bite are structural: the entry-level set-down and falls, the hobless shower, and especially the wall reinforcement, which is cheap at frame stage and expensive once the bathroom is finished. Retrofitting any of it after lock-up is the costly way to discover the requirement applied.

Also known as: Livable housing provisions, NCC accessibility provisions (housing), Silver level.

Category: Accessibility / NCC.

Related

• AS 1428 access standard
• Step-free entry

See also

• Step-free path

References

• Livable Housing Australia design guidelines (verified 2026-06-04)

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Last updated: 2026-06-04. Verified: 2026-06-04. Quarterly review for currency.