Mascot towers builders ‘shouldn’t have been operating’

The state’s new building commissioner has slammed the Mascot Towers builders, saying so enormous were the faults in the complex, it was hard to believe the industry had allowed such a poor product to turn up on the marketplace.

• Mascot Towers’ owners give evidence at inquiry
• Mascot Towers residents still can’t return home
• $3m emergency loan for Mascot Towers victims

NSW’s newly-appointed building commissioner has told a parliamentary inquiry into the state’s building industry that it’s time to “rebuild its reputation” as he slammed the builder of Mascot Towers saying they shouldn’t have been operating.

Inaugural building commissioner David Chandler declared the industry was selfish when he appeared before the upper house’s public accountability committee on Friday.

He started in his role on Wednesday.

“It’s time for the NSW building industry to be different and to rebuild its reputation,” Mr Chandler told the inquiry into building standards, quality and disputes.

“Our industry is overly self-facing and it has an unsustainable culture of risk-adversity and ‘What’s in it for me?’ This culture has too often become defensive and adverse to accountability.”

NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler addresses the inquiry. Picture: AAP

Mr Chandler visited the cracked Mascot Towers on Thursday and said he believes the engineering design was “poor”.

Residents of the complex’s 132 apartments have been forced to stay elsewhere since the building was evacuated in mid-June due to cracking in the primary support structure and facade.

“I’ve built a lot of buildings and … I don’t think I’ve seen many buildings as poorly built as that,” Mr Chandler told the committee, adding the residents shouldn’t be in such a “terrible situation”.

“I’m embarrassed, frankly that the industry has allowed a product like Mascot Towers to turn up on the marketplace.”

Mr Chandler said the building was “fixable”.

“ … because the faults that are in that building are simply someone who didn’t pay any attention to them, the control joints were cracking and the stuff that’s in there is fixable but it’s going to take a lot of work to fix. So there is a builder there who was operating who really shouldn’t have been in the space doing it.”

Mr Chandler intends to engage Bronwyn Weir to help him implement the state government’s initiatives.

Mascot Towers in Bourke St, which was evacuated due to structural concerns.

Ms Weir and Professor Peter Shergold in 2018 completed an assessment of the effectiveness of compliance and enforcement systems across Australia. Legislation was passed in October giving the state government compliance and enforcement powers and the right to suspend or cancel a certifier’s registration.

Residents of Opal Tower have been evacuated again from their building in Olympic Park, Sydney.

The regime also allows for substantial fines for body corporates who don’t have sufficient insurance.

However, Department of Customer Service executive John Tansey on Monday told the inquiry he couldn’t say exactly when the new laws would come into effect.

Mr Chandler told the inquiry that NSW does not need a formal building commission like some other states, and he is satisfied with its current set-up.

“On the face of it, I don’t believe we need that at the moment, the first thing we need is to be very clear about what leadership we need to start turning this industry around,” he said.

“This is not a bureaucratic solution, this is not going to require a heavy hand of government, this is not going to require a huge amount of legislation.”

He told the inquiry he does not have a budget but will have four or five staff.

The commissioner said he was “absolutely satisfied” the required resources would be made available.

The upper house inquiry was established following the Mascot and Opal Tower incidents.

The newly-built Opal Tower block in Sydney Olympic Park was evacuated on Christmas Eve after cracks discovered in the building sparked fears it could collapse.

Originally published as Mascot towers builders ‘shouldn’t have been operating’