Meridien Apartments deemed ‘unsafe’ fire risk by West Torrens Council

Residents of an “unsafe” Anzac Highway apartment complex face eviction, and the building could be torn down, if it’s not brought up to the fire code.

Residents of the Meridien Apartments may be booted from their homes and the complex demolished if the building can’t be brought up to an acceptable fire safety standard.

The five-storey Plympton residential building was deemed “unsafe” by a building certifier following a fire safety inspection, court documents reveal.

An inspection of the five-storey building highlighted a number of "deficiencies"'. Picture: Jason Katsaras

Owner of two buildings at 197-201 and 201, Anzac Hwy, Strata Corporation, has appealed a fire-safety notice from the West Torrens Council’s building fire safety committee in the Environment, Resources and Development Court.

In an email from Katnich Dodd in March this year, the consultant said the five-level building was “unsafe”.

“Until all of those measures have been implemented, no-one can state that the building is ‘safe’,” the email stated.

“But that is not to say that the building should be evacuated or that all of the measures must be implemented immediately.”

A resident of the apartments on Anzac Highway said she had received correspondence from her landlord that if the concerns over the fire safety of the building could not be fixed, the group would look to evict all its tenants and demolish the complex.

“It does feel dodgy with some of the wiring in here, my lights flicker occasionally, but it has character and charm which is why I chose to live here,” she said.

Another resident, Aaphat Baril, has lived in the building for two years and said news of the assessment of the building was worrying,

“I’m concerned about that for sure, I’ll be talking to my landlord about that, but I’m sure they will fix it,” he said.

One resident who wished not to be named said he read the report and thought the assessment was unfair.

“It seems inappropriate to retrospectively assess old buildings in comparison to the new standards and codes of buildings today,” he said.

“It’s like getting stuck into people driving an older car and making them put airbags in it.”

The owner of a five-storey residential building in Plympton received a fire notice in July this year. Picture: Jason Katsaras

Strata has applied to suspend the directions contained in the notice it received in July this year.

The committee also wrote to the company in October 10, 2019 after inspecting two buildings at the site – which has 61 units in total – for the purposes of fire safety.

Strata had a 2017 report from Katnich Dodd Building Certifiers when it received the letter, court documents show.

In the letter, the committee requested the company provide a “renewed report” based on the “current condition of both buildings”, with a schedule of works to rectify all fire safety deficiencies.

It then issued a fire safety notice on July 13 this year, which required the fire safety of the buildings to be adequate by August 9.

However, Strata said both the letter and the notice were “vague and uncertain” and lacked detail on why the building’s fire safety was not adequate.

“Each and all of the directions as contained in the notice are unreasonable and oppressive,” Strata stated.

It also argued the August deadline was “unreasonable” and rendered the notice “invalid”.

An inspection in February last year of the five-storey building had “non-compliant” riser shafts, court documents reveal.

“The shafts present a serious risk to the fire safety of the building and should be rectified immediately,” it read.

There were also issues with fire isolated stairways on the top two levels while it highlighted a “suite of issues” with the central stairway, “which should be replaced”.

It also found issues with round knobs, which are “a problem for arthritic people”, while smoke detectors “fall far short of the current requirements for a building of this type”.

It called for an upgrade of smoke detection throughout the building.