R-value (insulation) typical straw bale houses have very thick walls and thus are well insulated. Snow is roughly R-1 per inch. Brick has a very poor insulating ability at a mere R-0.2 per inch; however it does have a relatively good thermal mass. Note that the above examples all use the U.S. (non-SI) definition for R-value. When determining the overall thermal resistance of a building assembly such as a wall or roof, the insulating effect of the surface air film is added to the thermal resistance of the other materials. In practice the above surface values are used for floors, ceilings, and
Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry the establishment of the Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC), an independent statutory authority responsible for monitoring and promoting workplace relations in the Australian building and construction industry. The ABCC was active between October 2005 and May 2012, when, following enactment of the , its functions were superseded by Fair Work Building and Construction, an agency of the Australian government. In May 1997 the Federal Government, with agreement from the States, prepared a National Building Industry Code of Practice. The government supplemented the Code with Implementation Guidelines. Fundamentally, the Code and the Guidelines were an attempt to