Architects – Design Final Checklist for Sign-off

The correct Checklist Number has been included in the bottom right-hand side of the Title Block. The number is the exact number provided by the designer in the design request.

All emails and folder in MS Team will contain the Checklist number, which may change due to change of options or once a design has been approved/signed off.

The Designer will advise when new checklist numbers are required.  All checklist numbers are generated from the CGFB database (GCONs) and are unique.  They provide a version control method, to ensure the correct calculator is being used on the revision of the floor plans in ArchiCAD.

Please ensure the correct checklist number is used both in the ArchiCAD file naming and on all PDFs created for client reviews.

This should be easy and clear for a customer to understand the room names and how they are placed.

Any abbreviations used are in accordance with CGFB abbreviations.

The entry has been labeled (This is the most likely door a visitor to the building will use.

For the furniture floorplans only, please ensure you have applied the colour guide style.  See below

Use the precinct code to confirm any predefined setbacks for side boundaries.  Please note that boundary 1 is 3000mm and boundary 2 is 1500mm clearance.

https://www.legislation.act.gov.au/ni/2008-27/Current

The floor plan, elevations, and snapshot should all be consistent and use the CGFB abbreviations used in the Design Summary.

Windows are only dimensioned using the abbreviations and not with dimensions of walls either side of a window or exact dimensions of the windows or doors.

The position of the exterior doors and windows must comply with the following criteria:

1. For Brick Veneer Walls, the Windows and Doors must be positioned in the Timber Wall
2. For Exterior Timber Walls, the Windows and Doors must be aligned with the Exterior face of the wall. 
3. For the Exterior Hinged doors, there is no Architrave (casting) shown on the exterior face of the wall. This applies to all types of exterior walls

Highlight windows are annotated on the floor plans, elevations and shown on the snapshot (operable or fixed is also noted).

All interior and exterior walls have dimensions to allow the customer to easily understand the size of all spaces.

• including cupboard doors
• Dimensions should always be outside the floorplan.

Including pergolas, decks, patio

The raked ceiling is shown on the floor plan with dotted horizontal line and annotation.

ROOFING MATERIALS

Roof Tiles: can only be used when the roof pitch is 15 degrees or more. 
Colorbond, or other metal sheetings:

• If the roof pitch is greater than 5 degrees: Colorbond Roof Covering
• If the roof pitch is 4 or 5 degrees: Trim Deck
• If the roof pitch is 3 degrees or less: Colorbond Klip-Lok

NOTE: Minimum roof pitch: 1.5 degrees

The issue is around the elevations and the way we design ceiling heights.

 In the example below, the existing Building File clearly shows 2.4m high ceilings.

And, the height of the ceiling is shown a lot higher in comparison to the overhang of the gutter, fascia, eaves etc.

The toilet is not positioned in a way where it is the first thing that is seen when entering the room

There is an area that is practical to access the shower recess.

• There is space for a towel rail that is easily accessible next to the shower
• The vanity has space for a mirror on the wall above the basin
• There is a 100mm space between a glass shower screen and a vanity cabinet to allow cleaning between them

There is at least 1850mm between back of the toilet and opposite wall

Interior joinery such as cupboards is shown as thick lines to represent the thickness of the wall.

Please ensure all Joinery has a WHITE background. 

To ensure joiners, clients and builders can distinguish joinery all kitchen and laundry cupboards must have a white background.  

Shelving and BIR and some WIR do not have joinery. 

Please note: Laundry sinks in built-in cupboards with WM are not considered joinery as a default.  They come builtin a metal cabinet.  Therefore should have transparent background (not white).

The standard size for all doors is 820, unless requested otherwise.  For CSD only use 870 for accessibility room, therefore only one room in the dwelling should use the larger size doors.

Sliding door systems are a maximum of 2 doors deep, to allow sliding doors to pass past each other. 3 or more doors deep is not possible with the system we use.

If a Secondary Residence the design can be easily adapted to meet AS4299.

For Designs with more than one Bedroom (None extension) will need a one adaptable wheelchair turning circle in each of the category Kitchen, Laundry, Bathroom, Bedroom and living room. 

• Brick veneer (110mm) and cavity (50mm) have been detailed correctly in the Floor Plan.
• Brick cladding must meet the FGL - do not show concrete slab in Elevations.

All elevations should notate roof angle, exterior cladding materials and levels.

Use the Site Scope plotted area files located in a sub-folder in MS Teams under the Project's main folder.  These plotted level will provide finer detail to the contour diagrams from ACTMapi.

Each elevation must have NGL/FGL, Existing Residence FFL, FCL (for raked ceilings please indicate lowest point and highest point), ROOF Top levels.

NOTE: Cladding colours and materials much be included in elevations.

Designs that are elevated with a brick wrapping foundation and have weatherTex cladding:

The weatherboards/colorbond cladding needs to drop down to

A – Timber Floor Frame 200mm to cover the bearers and joists (see diagram)

B – 100mm down to cover the slab edge. (substitute bearers and joist with concrete 100mm thick)

In  certain cases we will have 2 types of elevation plans:

1. "Elevations Breaches" - this is only if we breach the Aetback, the Building Envelope, or the Solar Building Envelope
2. "Elevations" - these are the same elevations, without the breaches. Use the same marker for this, just with a different Layer Combination

NOTE: for both cases, the elevations

• must be colored,
• texture and window labels must show
• there is no sun shadow on any of the elevations

Due to legislation changes:

1. The Solar Building Envelope is 31 degrees
2. This applies to all ongoing projects in the Concept Design Stage. 

Outdoor areas are dimensioned on floor plans.

In general, the minimum width for a domestic driveway is 3 metres.

There are factors that can alter the required minimum width. These can include curves in driveway, with the minimum width altering depending on the amount the driveway curves. The range will typically be between 3 metres and 3.6 metres.

Another aspect that can affect minimum widths and lengths of the driveway is access to garages, with the width of the driveway door being an important factor.

So overall, the width of a driveway should be a minimum of 3m. The width will need to increase once a certain degree of bend in the driveway occurs, with the minimum width ranging between 3m to 3.6m.

When turning into garages, the apron width (the length of the bend), will typically need to range between 5.6m to 7m.

.

Area of the driveway must be measured.
This applies for all "Proposed driveways"

See light blue high lighted area, area needs to be measured and noted on the "Site Map"

The designated parking spot for all secondary residences MUST be 3800 wide x 6000 length as a minimum.

A path from the parking spot to the entrance of the secondary residence must be shown on the sitemap drawings.

New building envelope provisions – solar access
To protect the solar access of neighbours, the new residential housing codes limit overshadowing of neighbouring blocks by replacing the building envelope
applicable to a southern boundary with a new plane or solar angle. This slices through the old building envelope on the southern side.
For most of the block, the plane limits the southern part of the envelope to not more than the shadow cast by a notional 1.8m fence on the boundary at noon on the winter solstice (21 June). At this time in Canberra the sun is at its lowest at about 32° from the horizon.

At the winter solstice, a 1.8m fence running east to west on a flat block will cast a shadow 2.9m long. However, a fence aligned north west – south east will cast a 2m shadow. There are new provisions for a garage on the southern boundary through an increase in the height of the ‘Solar-fence’ to 2.4m for a 10m section of the southern-boundary from behind the minimum front boundary setback.
To allow for the different orientation of blocks the new rule includes a sliding scale which allows a higher solar angle in accordance with the level of deviation from the north. This means for the southern boundary aligned north west – south east the solar angle will be 42°, although the actual sun angle is still 32°. A table listing solar angles for different boundary orientations is provided in each of the residential housing development codes.

Ensure plans comply with the single dwelling housing codes which includes demonstrating Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) see table below, as well as, designated parking allocations.

Design plans must show at least one (1) designated car park for the Secondary Residence and at least two (2) parking bays for the Primary Residence.  At least one car park MUST be covered. Please refer to Rule 7.4 further below for criteria and conditions.

For extensions or Class 10 (non-inhabitable dwellings) these rules are not relevant.

Please also ensure you include a clothesline on the site map and floorplans.  These can be annotations.

For all drawing ensure there is a footpath leading to an entry door.  If its a rear door then ensure you show a landing.

All "proposed footpath" will require the area to be measured and noted on the site map

For carport and garage, you must ensure there is a driveway leading from the street.

You must include boundary fences at a minimum of 1800mm high.  

You must include any trees that are large and will remain on the block.

Please review to Site Scope subfolder which can be found at the entry-level of each Project folder in MS Teams.  There will always be only one Site Scope subfolder per Project.

Q: Can a driveway be also used as a portion of footpaths?

Determine if the project required retaining wall according to the site scope plots and levels.

If retaining walls are required, the dimensions must be included in the "Site map".
If the retaining wall is curved, the lineal length of the curve must be measured.

Retaining walls will also require heights shown on "Elevations"
If a retaining wall is visible on the elevation, it must include a height measurement

If fencing is required. 
Fencing type must be determined and noted. "Proposed Fence - #.## m high"
Fence dimensions must also be included in the "Site Map"
If the Fence is curved, the lineal length of the curve must be measured.

New residence and existing residence are shown differently in color scheme, are labeled on sitemap and floor plan.

The design is compliant with the Territory Plan rules and Criteria.

• Sewer easements require a minimum setback of 3000mm
• Electrical 1500mm
• A minimum setback of 900mm for fire separation
• A minimum of 2500 width and height is required for access to an easement.

All setback and type of easements must be notated on the sitemap. Use red dotted lines to depict setback or easement. 

The snapshot should be taken from the best angle of the building, usually the front (north-east or north-west).  In attached extensions, the snapshot should be taken from the best angle where glass and cladding are aesthetically rich.

Please try and improve the ArchiCAD drawing as we are no longer using a high-quality snapshot during the finalisation documentation.  However, this does require as realistic as possible a 3D conceptual diagram of the dwelling within it's realistic setting.

• The materials used in the Snapshot Exterior Walls, Posts, Windows, Carports etc. are reflected accurately in the Design Summary
• Brick veneer construction is accurately depicted
• If brick the brick or rendered brick it continues to the ground or landscaping without concrete edge at the bottom
• Weatherboard and cladding materials are accurately depicted.
• If a raft slab the concrete edge around the bottom of the building is just visible.

ARTICULATION

Please ensure that the joins between two type of cladding are represented accurately. This includes joins between window and door frames meeting the cladding.

The articulation of a building reveals how the parts fit into the whole by emphasising each part separately.  That is, each part is defined precisely and stands out clearly.

Parallel to to rafters/trusses

MASTER LAYOUTS:

• In the template file, there is a set of Master Layouts prepared, each for one of the usual project version
• The following information is crucial for the master layout:
  
  • Checklist Number(s)
  • Revision Number(s)
  • Logo(s)
  • The Copy Right text
  • Area(s) - this is set in the Project Info
  • Client Information - this is set in the Project Info
• For older template versions, some of the information must be updated to comply with the latest template

Use Fixed Priced Extensions logo for:

1. Attached extensions
2. Detached extensions
3. Detached additions
4. All extensions to existing dwelling

Used Canberra Granny Flat Builders logo for

1. Secondary Residences
2. Standalone dwellings - pool houses, studios with kitchenettes

Ensure that you use the type of project from the Architect Design Brief.

The new dwelling must be notated with the correct type of project ie:

• Proposed Extension  OR
• Secondary Residence

All other structures must be annotated correctly.  Garages, Gazebos, Caports, etc.

LOGO:

• Ensure you use the correct Logo or the correct combination
  • Canberra Granny Flat Builders
  • Fixed Price Extensions
  • In House Renovation

NOTE: This is built in the Master Layouts.

AREA NOTES:

• Must contain, where applicable to the design: GFA, Alfresco, Deck, Garage, Carport, and Total Roof Area are correctly labeled and reflected on the plans.  
• Must include the
  • Actual Plot Ratio;
  • Actual Private open space and Minimum POS
  • Site coverage - Maximum allowed, and actual
  • If any of the values from above exceeds the Minimum or Maximum limits, must be displayed in RED

NOTE: All of the above is in the Master Layouts, please use those template layouts.

APPROVALS:

• Ensure you include the correct Revision number (ref: ArchiCAD file) and insert YOUR initials.
• Ensure your NAME appears - this is set in Project Info
• Ensure the Designer NAME appears - this is set in Project Info

NB:  Block size should be included within the Site Map but not necessarily in the Notes area if there is insufficient room.

NOTE: All of the above is  in the Master Layouts, please use those template layouts

Merged PDF should contain the following drawings this order:

1. Sitemap
2. Dimensional Floorplan
3. Furniture Floorplan
4. Elevations North, East, South, West
5. Snapshot

One file to be created and merged into a single pdf file using the following naming convention: 

Checklist # - Project Name - Merged- Revision #.pdf

EG: 0697 - 16 Dutton Street, Dickson - Merged - rev5.3.pdf

Individual PDFs are to be created in the following order:

1. Sitemap
2. Dimensional Floorplan
3. Furniture Floorplan
4. Elevations 
5. Snapshot

Must use naming convention of: [checklist #] - drawing name (see above) - Revision #. pdf  eg: 0270 - Dimensional Floorplan rev5.pdf

Naming Convention for FINALISED projects

As we are moving all ArchiCAD files to the BIMCloud, you will need to ensure your file is uploaded to correctly to the appropriate area.  That is, not all ArchiCAD files will need to be downloaded and saved into MS TEAMS.

However, you will need to create and download a BIMx file - see below checklist item 34.

When you finalised your project you MUST include the term "Finalised" or "Final"  in the file name of the PDFs.

example: 0373 - 10 Brown Ave Farrer - Merged - Rev 3.1 - Finalised.pdf

USE ONLY FOR NON-BIMCLOUD PROJECTS

• Files should be saved as .pla, with all related textures and library parts. This is so that in the future, any designer that has ArchiCAD could amend the plans to suit another customer. As well as making alterations for Development Approvals
• Files contain all library items in line with the plans on the CGFB website. This is so that all drawings have consistency when transferred to Concept Designs and so the files can be easily accessed and adjusted at a later date
• The final checklist number and final revision number must be in the file name, as well as on the floorplans so that there is no confusion as to what version of changes is being signed off by the client.
• Please ensure you save the PLA and the PLN file versions.

Ensure that drawings reflect accurately what is created in the PDF and vis versa

Version control of ArchiCAD should be as follows:

1. New revision number for each 'Client' feedback ie: 1.0, 2.0, 3.0
2. Sublevel number is added to the revision number for all "Internal revisions" or when Customer Designer identifies error/oversight ie: #.1, #.2, #.3, e.g: 1.1, 1.2

ArchiCAD naming conventions must be applied.

The rule in the NCC/BCA (National Construction Code/Building Code of Australia): https://ncc.abcb.gov.au/

A 750mm wide landing is required between the stairs and a door at the top of a set of stairs.

This is the information in the building code.

If you project is in the BIM Cloud you will need to create the PLN Snapshot, as instructed in the BIMcloud Procedures", and "Follow naming convention: "Rev Cx.x - Finalised"

Can you please, starting immediately provide BIMx files for all designs that are at the second (or higher) iteration.

We have found major issues coming through with Connectors/links, stair heights, etc., and will need to commence doing virtual tours so we can detect any construction issues upfront. 

To be clear, when a project has entered into a ‘follow-up design meeting’ (FDM), you will need to include the BIMx file each time an upload to Clearing Centre.

PDF and BIMx files should be saved in the Clearing Centre of the Designs with CGFB MS Team Channel.

https://teams.microsoft.com/_#/files/General?threadId=19%3A76b84d3145564f03a0f22ca4077cb872%40thread.skype&ctx=channel&context=Clearing%2520Centre&rootfolder=%252Fsites%252FDesignswithCGFB%252FShared%2520Documents%252FGeneral%252FClearing%2520Centre 

Make sure that only the Checklist, Block and Section and Suburb are used instead of Street Address.  Please ensure that no client names feature on-screen or in the file name.  E.G: 0393: Bock 1 Section 27 Canberra.

Please produce only one (1) video with the title page separating Summer from Winter solstice.   Summer should be the first video.

In order for each project to have a similar quality for the solar video clips, make sure the following standards are complied with:

1. The clips need to be slow enough (minimum speed 00:00:20) so that clients can take in significant details without having to play over and over. 
2. The clips need to show the sun-light inside the building, therefore frosted glass needs to be clear.
3. The clips need to show how deep the sunlight enters the dwelling, some angles are too high.
4. The video needs to be taken from the northern position, so if objects are obstructing from the North, you may need to take the video from the North-east or North-west.

Ensure you set the Project direction in ArchiCAD set to North (see image below).

An example of a good speed, the right angle and the impact of the sun inside the dwelling.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOZU1nbcsdE

All text is in Calibri