CSIRO will close its North Ryde Fire Technology Laboratory in December, with industry sources warning the closure could strip up to 50 per cent of Australia’s fire-testing capacity at a moment when demand for testing has never been higher. That is according to internal documentation obtained by Wood Central, which confirms the closure forms part of an Infrastructure Technologies property review tied to financial constraints and organisational priorities.
In correspondence sent to industry stakeholders last night, CSIRO confirmed the decision not to renew the lease and acknowledged the importance of the North Ryde capability to industry, regulators and the broader community. The agency said it had commenced early engagement with staff under a major change process while engaging customers, regulators and partners to manage the transition.
Wood Central understands the closure will hit the building products value chain hardest, particularly timber windows, doors, floors and plasterboard. Bushfire-zone housing built to BAL ratings, low-rise apartments, townhouses and façade assemblies tested under AS 5113 all depend on the North Ryde laboratory.
“Fire safety gets to the core of why we have a CSIRO,” a fire-safety industry source told Wood Central, “and they are closing it down.”
Wood Central understands that Jensen Hughes, which operates a NATA-accredited fire testing laboratory in Melbourne offering a comprehensive range of fire-resistance and reaction-to-fire testing, will remain the only major commercial provider in the Australian market once North Ryde closes. “In effect, we will soon go from operating in a duopoly to a monopoly,” the source said. “We need more providers to help reduce bottlenecks in testing, not fewer.”
Manufacturers reliant on the North Ryde bench may need to source alternative accredited providers for future fire-resistance and reaction-to-fire work. Offshore providers have been flagged in the CSIRO correspondence as a possible pathway, with the impact set to fall hardest on plasterboard systems, façade assemblies and bushfire-zone building products tied to Australian test reports.
Compliance assessments currently run at around 2 years, with the queue already long before the North Ryde decision. That baseline now faces a major blow-out as up to half the country’s NATA-accredited fire-testing capacity comes offline.
“Assessments could take up to three, four or even five years,” the source said. “And this could have major implications for project sunset clauses and liquidated damages, which are tied up in these tests.”
The source has also raised concerns the closure will concentrate demand on a single major private provider, lifting prices as the National Construction Code tightens fire-safety performance requirements. Existing test report modifications must be carried out by a NATA-registered entity, narrowing the accredited pathway available to building-product manufacturers nationwide.
It comes as CSIRO has confirmed it will honour all currently contracted projects before any operational changes take effect. The agency’s broader Infrastructure Technologies capability will continue at other CSIRO locations, with the closure targeted at the North Ryde fire-technology bench rather than the wider research function.
Please note: Industry stakeholders have been invited to provide written submissions on dependencies, potential impacts and considerations through a formal Feedback Form launched alongside the announcement.
