All-gender sanitary facilities

Overview

The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) is consulting on the potential inclusion of all-gender bathroom provisions in the National Construction Code (NCC).  

We are seeking input from industry and interested stakeholders.

The suggested changes include: 

• A voluntary Deemed-to-Satisfy pathway in Section F, F4 Sanitary and Other Facilities
• Replacing and consistently using ‘gender’ instead of ‘sex’ and ‘accessible’ instead of ‘unisex’ throughout the NCC.

The suggested changes will enable practitioners to provide all-gender sanitary facilities alongside male, female and accessible facilities.

The changes can be found in the embedded PDF below, or are available from the Related Documents section at the bottom of this page.

These changes have not been included in the NCC 2025 Public Comment Draft (PCD). We are running a separate consultation because this topic needs both technical and policy consideration. If you would like to view and provide comments on other proposed changes for NCC 2025, you can visit the PCD consultation.

Providing comment

Submissions will be accepted via the ABCB consultation hub until Monday 1 July 2024. We invite and encourage stakeholders to provide their input to help inform our next steps.

What happens next

Modernising and standardising the language and incorporating all-gender bathrooms into the NCC is a progressive step towards building a more inclusive and equitable society. Embracing diversity, and reflecting it in our built environment, will contribute to the well-being of all individuals and foster a more accepting and supportive community.

Your comments will be considered in assessing the proposed changes to the NCC.