The building code and farm sheds

Four classes a farm shed can fall into

The NCC’s explanatory notes say buildings used for farming are “often very diverse in nature, occupancy, use and size”, and give examples of how each class can fit. The table puts the code’s description of each class beside its own farming example.

The notes add that in some states and territories the appropriate authorities may classify farm buildings as Class 10a, but only if Class 7 or Class 8 would not be more appropriate, weighing the building’s size, purpose and operations and how far people are employed in it. They also warn that a low fire load or few occupants should not be used to justify a less stringent class: their example is a large greenhouse growing tomatoes with only one or two people in it at any time, which they consider inappropriate to class as 10a. A building can also have more than one classification, and where it does, the more stringent requirements apply.

Farm building or farm shed

These are defined terms, and both are kinds of Class 7 or Class 8 building on land primarily used for farming. The code defines farming to include growing and harvesting plants or fungi and keeping animals to breed them, sell them or sell their produce, but not forestry, and not keeping animals for sport or recreation.

South Australia is different. It has its own definition of a farm building, with floor areas set by building type, and the explanatory note to its version of Part I3 says the standard NCC definition and provisions for farm sheds do not apply there.

What Part I3 changes

Part I3 adds Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions for farm buildings and farm sheds, and where they differ from Sections C, D, E and F (fire resistance, access and egress, services and equipment, health and amenity), Part I3 takes precedence. A few of its national provisions, summarised:

• Separation (I3D2). A farm shed need not comply with Parts C2, C3 and C4, except C2D12, “if it is separated from any other building or allotment boundary by a distance of not less than 6 m”.
• Open space (I3D3). An open space next to a farm building or farm shed need not be directly connected with a public road.
• Fire-fighting equipment (I3D8 and I3D11). “The Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions of Part E1 do not apply to a farm shed”, but a farm shed must have at least one portable fire extinguisher for every 500 m² of floor area or part of it, of ABE type and not less than 4.5 kg, installed under Section 3 of AS 2444. South Australia deletes these clauses and sets its own extinguisher rules for farm buildings (SA I3D11).
• Water for the fire brigade (I3D9). A farm building of more than 500 m², within 50 km by road of a fire brigade station equipped to use a hydrant, needs either a fire hydrant system under AS 2419.1 (with a 2-hour water supply in place of 4 hours) or an on-site water supply that meets the clause’s capacity, distance and access rules.

The notes in Part A6 add that these concessions do not stop a designer developing a Performance Solution, including for a Class 7 or 8 farming building that does not meet every part of the definitions.

These are summaries of clauses written for designers and certifiers. Read the clause itself, and any variation for your state, before relying on one.

Which edition applies

NCC 2025 was published on 1 May 2026, and states and territories adopt it on their own dates. Until it is adopted where you build, an earlier edition applies, and your state’s building regulator can say which. The definitions and Part I3 clauses on this sheet read the same in NCC 2025 and NCC 2022.

The ABCB’s page also warns that some NCC requirements may apply at different times, or not at all, because of state and territory variations. The NCC can be read online at ncc.abcb.gov.au, where its clauses link to each state’s variations.