Cladding crackdown: 20,000+ buildings need checking

More than 20,000 privately-owned buildings across Queensland have been registered with the State’s building commission as part of its dangerous cladding crackdown with more than 4300 needing further checks.

MORE than 20,000 privately-owned buildings across Queensland have been registered with the State’s building commission as part of its dangerous cladding crackdown with more than 4300 needing further checks.

The deadline to register privately-owned buildings or risk a fine passed on Friday night with a registration being received every 30 seconds in the final hours, Queensland Building and Construction Commissioner Brett Bassett said.

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It comes after a cladding taskforce assembled by the Government in the wake of London’s deadly Grenfell Tower fire tragedy estimated about 12,000 private buildings across Queensland would need to be reviewed.

But not everything went smoothly with Mr Bassett revealing the Safer Buildings website came under attack during those final hours.

He said the QBCC was considering referring the attack to police.

“ … there was a period where a party used the internet to aggressively probe the website and created a risk of shutting out other industry members and building owners from completing their checklists.

“The website continued to successfully receive registrations and documentation during this period.

“We are reviewing logs of the attack and have not ruled out referring this matter to QPS.”

Residential and commercial building owners were required by law to register their buildings if they were given development approval to build or alter the cladding after January 1, 1994 but before October 1, 2018.

Those who did not register by Friday’s deadline could face fines.

More than 4300 will now proceed to the next stage of assessment where building industry professionals will provide technical advice to owners and report back to the QBCC by May 29.

“Let me be clear: this audit process cannot be circumvented. Building owners are responsible for the safety of anyone who uses their building and will be held accountable if their cladding is deemed to be dangerous,” Mr Bassett said.