MANY new buildings in the ACT will soon be required to provide showers, change-rooms, lockers and bicycle parking under a variation to the Territory Plan that aims increase active travel.

Under the End-of-Trip Facilities General Code, new buildings and those undergoing major alterations or extensions will have to provide the facilities in an effort to encourage more people to exercise on their way to work or on their lunchtime.

The new rules won’t apply to single dwellings, such as stand-alone houses.

Under the planning change, end-of-trip facilities will no longer be counted as part of gross floor area in an attempt to give building owners more incentive to build the facilities.

Planning Minister Mick Gentleman said the government engaged extensively with industry and community stakeholders to ensure the new rules wouldn’t create an unreasonable burden for developers, owners or managers.

The code will undergo the normal disallowance period for Territory Plan variations before coming into effect later this year.