State’s building watchdog loses Supreme Court battle with builder

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission faces a potential $10m legal claim after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of a Gold Coast building firm.

The State Government building watchdog faces more controversy after losing a case in the Supreme Court that exposes taxpayers to a possible $10 million legal claim.

Days before Christmas last year, Supreme Court judge Peter Flanagan decided that six of seven conditions placed on a builder by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission were invalid and imposed unlawfully.

Flanagan said the QBCC “acted beyond its powers” in imposing restrictions on Groupline Constructions, a Gold Coast family firm that already started work on a luxury apartment block at Coolangatta, 40m from Kirra Beach.

David and Scott Widdicombe, whose firm Groupline Constructions has had a significant victory over the State Government’s building regulator.

The QBCC was understandably unhappy with Flanagan’s decision and appealed.

However, the building regulator lost again when Appeal Court judges Hugh Fraser, Philip McMurdo and Thomas Bradley upheld Flanagan’s decision.

The case revolved around a $25 million eight-level block with a two-level basement carpark at 1 Coyne Street, Coolangatta.

In April 2019, the Spyre Group awarded Groupline the contract to build a block called Maya.

A legal battle erupted soon after construction began when residents in the Kirra Vista apartments next door in Musgrave St reported cracks in their walls.

They believed the construction of Maya was causing damage and threatening their safety.

Among the critics was Kirra Vista body corporate member Toni Bowler, from Sheldon in Redland City, who owned a holiday apartment there.

A ministerial diary tabled in parliament shows Bowler had a meeting in September 2019 with Works Minister, Mick de Brenni, who is responsible for the QBCC.

Less than two weeks later, the QBCC started a series of actions against Groupline and imposed the conditions that were later declared void.

Groupline was hit with a stop-work notice by the QBCC. However, it was withdrawn three days later after the builder produced an engineer’s report saying there were already numerous cracks and faults in Kirra Vista, long before work commenced.

The court heard the occupants of Kirra Vista units 6, 12 and 18 chose to vacate the building.

Groupline’s Scott Widdicombe and his son David said they moved swiftly to repair “minor cracks” at Kirra Vista.

They also changed the way they were setting the foundations at Maya. That was to reduce vibrations and “mitigate any further damage”.

“It cost us $200,000,’’ said Scott Widdicombe. “We shored up their building before we did any work on our own. We lost six weeks.”

A delapation report found there was “movement” at Kirra Vista before Groupline started work next door.

“It is a 50-year-old building with inadequate footings and no deep foundations,” he said.

“It was basically sitting on a sand dune. Kirra Vista had cracks everywhere.”

The Widdicombes knew this because one of their subcontractors was willing to testify that he had previously worked painting and patching cracks at Kirra Vista.

The subbie told Widdicombe that similar patch-up work was commonplace on older Gold Coast unit blocks.

The Widdicombes commissioned an engineer’s report confirming historic faults at Kirra Vista.

Father and son say they are out of pocket by $2m and have lost at least four other jobs they had lined up.

Their reputations were tarnished, they said, after the QBCC put out press releases boasting about the crackdown against Groupline. The story was widely reported on television and in the papers. They lost four jobs they had lined up.

“We were made out to be a bunch of cowboys even while working hard to mitigate damage — and ensure the structural integrity of the building next door,” Scott Widdicombe said.

Everyone except the Widdicombes now seem happy. Kirra Vista has undergone substantial repair work, and the beautiful Maya apartments are just about sold out at more than $1.9m each.

Alex Tuhtan from ShandTaylor Lawyers says Groupline may sue the QBCC.

“By present estimates, it is likely that the claim will exceed $10m,’’ he said.

But the Widdicombes aren’t sure they want the ordeal to drag on another three or four years. “We just want to get on with our lives,” said Scott.

Des Houghton is a media consultant and a former editor of The Courier-Mail, the Sunday Mail and the Sunday Sun.