What does the NCC say about curtains?
A curtain can be the largest soft surface in a room: a full-height sweep of relief fabric across a window wall, or a run of panels on a ceiling rail that divides a hall. For fire, the National Construction Code (NCC) treats it differently from the walls and ceiling around it.
Clause C2D11(1) of NCC 2025 Volume One applies the fire hazard property requirements of Specification 7 to linings, materials and assemblies in Class 2 to 9 buildings. Clause C2D11(3) then lists what is exempt, and item (m)(i) reads: "a curtain, blind, or similar decor, other than a proscenium curtain required by Specification 32". Houses are Class 1 buildings; for a house, check with the certifier.
The clause has the same number and the same curtain exemption in NCC 2022, which matters because the two editions are in use at once. In the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Western Australia, NCC 2025 has applied since 1 May 2026, with a 12-month transition period in the ACT and Western Australia. New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania move to it on 1 May 2027 (Tasmania adopted it temporarily from 1 May to 4 June 2026), and the Northern Territory has not adopted it, so the Territory remains on NCC 2022.
The table sets out which curtains carry a fire requirement, and the test and index each rule names.
| Situation | Clause | Requirement | Test standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Curtains, blinds and similar decor, nationally | NCC C2D11(3)(m)(i) | Exempt from Specification 7 | None |
| Proscenium curtain required by Specification 32, in a theatre, public hall or the like | NCC S32C6 and Table S7C7 | A non-combustible fire safety curtain, or Spread-of-Flame Index 0 and Smoke-Developed Index not more than 3 | AS/NZS 1530.3 for the indices |
| New South Wales: curtain, blind or similar decor in any public part of an entertainment venue | NSW Table S7C7, notes 4 and 5 | Flammability Index not more than 6 | AS 1530.2 |
| New Zealand: suspended flexible fabrics in occupied spaces, including exitways | C/AS2 paragraph 4.12.5.2 | Flammability index no greater than 12 | AS 1530.2:1993 |
Clause C2D11(2) adds that paint or fire-retardant coatings must not be used to make a material comply with a required fire hazard property. New South Wales makes one exception, described below.
Do proscenium curtains need a fire rating?
Yes. Under Part I1 of the NCC, a theatre or public hall with a stage above the size set in clause I1D1 must either have a sprinkler system or separate its stage from the audience with a proscenium wall, and Specification 32 requires the principal opening in that wall to be protected by a curtain that can close it within 35 seconds. That curtain is either a fire safety curtain made of non-combustible material, or a curtain with fire hazard properties complying with Specification 7 and protected by a deluge system of open sprinklers along its full width.
For the second kind, Table S7C7 sets a Spread-of-Flame Index of 0 and a Smoke-Developed Index of not more than 3. The NCC determines both indices in accordance with AS/NZS 1530.3, which grades materials on ignition, flame spread, heat development and smoke.
What is the New South Wales rule for entertainment venues?
New South Wales replaces C2D11 with its own clause. In a Class 9b building used as an entertainment venue, NSW C2D11(3)(m)(i) removes the exemption from any curtain, blind or similar decor regulated by NSW Table S7C7. That table sets a Flammability Index of not more than 6, tested to AS 1530.2, for "a material used as a curtain, blind or similar decor in any part available to the public". The same table applies to curtains and blinds in temporary structures used as entertainment venues (NSW I5D7), and the NCC takes the meaning of entertainment venue from the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021. The rule is in the NSW variations to both NCC 2022 and NCC 2025.
This is the one place where a coating may be used. NSW C2D11(2) allows a fire-retardant coating on such a material under notes 4 and 5 of NSW Table S7C7. In NCC 2025, note 4 requires the coating's manufacturer or distributor to confirm that it is approved for the fabric and keeps its effect after at least five commercial dry cleaning or laundering operations to AS 2001.5.4, and the applicator to confirm that it was applied to the manufacturer's specification. Note 5 requires a label on a representative sample of each material, giving the maker, the trade name and composition, any retardant treatment with its applicator and date, the AS 1530.2 or AS/NZS 1530.3 test number and indices, and the approved methods of cleaning.
Do Victoria and the other states change the exemption?
Victoria replaces C2D11(3) with its own list, and its curtain wording is the national one: curtains, blinds and similar decor are exempt, except a proscenium curtain required by Specification 32. In NCC 2025 Volume One, no other state or territory varies C2D11, and New South Wales alone varies Table S7C7.
What does New Zealand require?
New Zealand works from its own documents. Paragraph 4.12.5.2 of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Acceptable Solution C/AS2 requires suspended flexible fabrics within all occupied spaces, including exitways, to have a flammability index of no greater than 12. The Building Product Specifications assign that index by testing to AS 1530.2:1993. Ask the building consent authority whether a particular curtain is treated as a suspended flexible fabric.
Why specify a tested fabric for an exempt curtain?
An exempt curtain may also need fire evidence. A client's brief or a venue's own policy can ask for tested curtain fabric, and the curtain often hangs in the same room as linings that must meet Table S7C4. Fabric made from Trevira CS has its flame retardancy built into the polyester fibre, which Indorama Ventures says cannot be lost through frequent washing or use. That is a property of the fibre, and a curtain's own test result is a separate document; what Trevira CS is explains the difference.
What fire evidence do Acunic curtain fabrics have?
Getzner Textil makes its made-to-measure acunic curtain, and the acunic area, a panel curtain on a ceiling rail, in Accentric Crash, with its organic design language, and Optic Structure, a distinctive three-dimensional weave of 702 g/m². Getzner's datasheet also gives the absorption of Volumic Weave measured as a gathered curtain. The curtain applications page shows both systems.
AKA Acoustics' Technical Product Summary (Version A, October 2024) rates Accentric Crash Group 1, and Optic Structure and Volumic Weave Group 2. Those are Group Numbers for walls and ceilings, explained in how Group Numbers work; a curtain rule asks for its own indices.
For a curtain in a New South Wales entertainment venue or a New Zealand occupied space, ask AKA Acoustics before you specify. For fullness, air gap and fabric choice in an absorbing curtain, see the acoustic curtains guide.
