Long wait before Mascot Towers residents can return home

One month after Mascot Towers residents were forced to leave their apartment block, they are no closer to finding out when they can return, as engineers continue to assess the building.

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One month after residents were forced to flee Sydney’s Mascot Towers there’s still no word on when they may be able to return to their homes or what caused the building’s current condition.

Residents of the complex’s 132 units were evacuated on June 14 after engineers became concerned about continued cracking in the building’s primary support structure and facade masonry.

It has been one month since Mascot Towers residents had to leave their units. Picture: AAP/Danny Casey

On Sunday, the Mascot Towers Owners Corporation announced that engineers were still continuing in their assessments of the building — which continued to show “further signs of stabilisation”.

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However, “questions surrounding costs of repairs, timings and the cause are all dependent on consultant’s advice and cannot be answered at this time”, the corporation said in an update on Sunday.

Those who called the beleaguered building home are still living in alternative accommodation, but can now access their apartments six days a week to retrieve items.

Residents removing their belongings from the apartment complex on June 23. Picture: Jane Dempster

The IGA supermarket on the bottom floor of the building has also now re-opened.

In the meantime, the corporation has urged owners of the units to make submissions to a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the state’s building standards.

The inquiry, led by Greens MP David Shoebridge, will look at the role of private certification in protecting building standards, the adequacy of consumer protections for owners of new buildings, limitations on insurance and compensation schemes.