What is the BMC?

The Building Management Committee (BMC) is the body responsible for managing the parts of the wider ESP complex that are shared between the different buildings and other members of the development.

ESP includes three residential strata schemes:

• Elite
• Prime
• Sublime

There are also retail/commercial stratum lots within the development.

Each strata scheme remains its own Owners Corporation and is responsible for its own building and common property. The BMC deals with facilities, infrastructure, services and expenses that are shared across the wider ESP complex.

The BMC operates under the Building Management Statement registered for the development and the applicable NSW strata legislation.

What kinds of things does the BMC deal with?

Generally, if something services or affects multiple parts of ESP, it may fall within the BMC’s responsibility.

Examples include:

• Shared lifts and major lift projects
• Building management services
• Shared security and CCTV systems
• Fire and life-safety infrastructure
• Shared mechanical services
• Cooling towers and other shared plant
• Shared cleaning and maintenance contracts
• Shared access and parking areas
• Building-wide insurance and compliance matters
• Major shared capital works
• Shared contractors and consultants

Exactly who is responsible for a particular asset or expense depends on the Building Management Statement and other governing documents.

Is the BMC the same as the Elite Strata Committee?

No.

The Elite Strata Committee deals with matters relating specifically to Elite and acts on behalf of the Elite Owners Corporation within its delegated authority.

The BMC deals with shared ESP matters involving Elite, Prime, Sublime and the other members of the building management arrangement.

This distinction is important.

For example, replacing carpet in the Elite lobby would ordinarily be an Elite matter.

Replacing shared building infrastructure servicing multiple schemes may be a BMC matter.

Who represents Elite at the BMC?

Elite appoints a representative to participate in the BMC on behalf of the Elite Owners Corporation.

The representative isn’t there simply in a personal capacity. Their role is to represent Elite’s interests and act as a communication link between the BMC and Elite.

This means the representative should keep the Elite Strata Committee informed about significant BMC activities and bring relevant Elite concerns and feedback back to the BMC.

What information should the BMC representative provide to Elite?

Our Strata Manager has advised that BMC representatives should communicate BMC information to their respective Strata Committees in a transparent and timely manner.

This includes things such as:

• BMC agendas and minutes
• Reports
• Correspondence
• Financial information
• Project updates
• Tender and procurement information
• Significant risks or issues
• Upcoming decisions
• BMC resolutions

The objective is simple: Elite should have enough information to understand what is happening at BMC level and provide informed input where appropriate.

Information may occasionally need to be restricted because of legal privilege, privacy requirements or another legitimate legal or confidentiality obligation.

Does the Elite Committee control how its BMC representative votes?

The representative participates in the BMC on Elite’s behalf, but not every operational matter requires the Elite Committee to debate and instruct the representative beforehand.

For significant matters, however, good governance means the Elite Committee should be informed early enough to consider the issue and provide its views before a decision is made wherever practicable.

This is particularly important for matters involving:

• Significant expenditure
• Major contracts
• Tenders
• Building Management
• Major capital works
• Long-term financial commitments
• Significant changes to shared services

The representative should therefore be a two-way communication channel:

BMC → Elite: information, proposals, risks, projects and upcoming decisions.

Elite → BMC: feedback, concerns, priorities and the position of the Elite Committee where one has been agreed.

What about informal BMC catch-ups?

Not every discussion between BMC representatives and the Building Manager necessarily constitutes a formal BMC meeting.

Operational catch-ups can be useful for progressing projects and resolving day-to-day matters.

However, calling something a “catch-up” doesn’t mean important information should disappear from the governance chain.

If projects are progressed, actions assigned, significant expenditure discussed, contractors engaged or positions developed, the relevant information should still be documented and communicated back to the respective committees.

Elite therefore includes a BMC Update as part of its committee meetings so that current projects, upcoming decisions and matters requiring Elite’s input can be discussed.

What is the role of the Building Manager?

The Building Manager handles much of the day-to-day operational work across ESP, including coordinating maintenance, contractors, inspections, repairs and projects.

The Building Manager is not the BMC and does not replace the governance role of the BMC representatives.

A useful way to think about it is:

BMC → provides governance, priorities and direction

Building Manager → coordinates and implements the operational work

Strata/BMC Manager → provides administration, financial management, meeting support and governance/procedural assistance

The exact responsibilities ultimately depend on the relevant contracts, delegations and Building Management Statement.

Why does BMC transparency matter to Elite?

BMC decisions can have a substantial impact on Elite’s:

• finances,
• maintenance,
• services,
• major projects,
• building operations, and
• long-term capital requirements.

Elite therefore needs visibility of what is happening at BMC level.

The objective isn’t to micromanage the BMC or require every minor operational matter to come back to Elite for approval. It is to ensure that significant decisions aren’t made in an information vacuum and that Elite has an opportunity to participate meaningfully in matters affecting its owners.

The basic governance principle

The simplest way to understand BMC governance is:

The BMC manages shared ESP matters, while Elite’s BMC representative ensures Elite has a voice in those matters and that information flows both ways.

Good BMC governance should be transparent, documented and collaborative, while still allowing routine operational work to happen efficiently.