Building certifiers pinned for multiple breaches by NSW Fair Trading
The are the private building certifiers that have transgressed on multiple occasions with a number of them now banned for a total of five years or more.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Private certifiers are approving non-compliant building work because they fear they’ll be out of a job if they stand up to developers.
New details have emerged of the lengths private certifiers will go to in order to keep working.
In a submission to the NSW Upper House Inquiry into the Regulation of Building Standards, the Hills Shire Council said the system remains flawed.
“There is a lack of willingness to act impartially, ethically and in the public interest due to an inherent conflict of interest in private certifiers undertaking the dual role of acting as a public official whilst conducting a private business,” the submission said.
“Council staff has met with multiple private certifiers that have issued occupation
certificates for new apartment buildings that contained significant fire safety noncompliances and required fire safety orders.
“The common responses were ‘If I don’t approve it, someone else will and I will be out of work’ and ‘I know it doesn’t comply but that is industry standard’.”
The Saturday Telegraph has gathered a list of eight private certifiers pinned for multiple breaches by the regulator, according to the NSW Fair Trading disciplinary register.
Jason Storer
Former director of AED Consulting (he is still employed by the company)
Fair Trading disciplinary actions: Two
Mr Storer raised the ire of NSW Fair Trading when he issued an occupation certificate for an
Auburn high rise building that NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler described as “one of the worst that I’ve seen”.
“I was called into that project after it had been settled and occupied by some 190 people out of 240 and was minded to actually evacuate the building, that is how bad it was,” Mr Chandler told a Business Western Sydney event last year.
“It was an absolute disgrace and I’m trying to get that resolved still.”
In November last year Mr Storer had his registration cancelled. He was also disqualified for 12 months because he “issued three interim occupation certificates which authorised the occupation and use of a building when lifts in two towers of the building were incomplete and posed a significant hazard to the health and safety of the occupants of the building”.
Mr Storer told an NCAT hearing in November last year “the penalty is excessive”.
He also told The Sunday Telegraph: “The legislation permits a developer to change certifier, however in my opinion it would be beneficial if the legislation was tightened to restrict how this occurs”.
Stanly Spyrou
Former director of Dix Gardner Group, ARAK and Redcall Development Services
Fines: $30,000
Fair Trading reprimands: Three
Status: Struck off as a certifier for five years from August 2019
Mr Spyrou has been reprimanded by NSWFT for approving works that were not actually in the building and signing off on buildings despite them being “not suitable for occupation or use”.
NSWFT found he signed off on one apartment development “that could not be found to not constitute a hazard to the health or safety”.
The NSW Land and Environment Court found he “disregarded the obvious failures of the development” at a Strathfield project site.
Valerio “Vic” Lilli
Director of DLM Certification and 21 other companies
Fines: $49,000
Fair Trading reprimands/cautions: Seven
Status: Struck off as a certifier for five years from February 2020 (but remains a director)
Vic Lilli previously certified developments done by major companies including Toplace and Holdmark. Among a litany of breaches included Mr Lilli approving partial use of a 378-unit mixed use building in Castle Hill “ that he could not reasonably determine was suitable for use”.
In 2019 NCAT found him guilty of professional misconduct over the certification of a Summer Hill boarding house.
Maurice Freixas
Director of Freixas Development Group and Dix Gardner employee
Fines: $40,000
Fair Trading reprimands: Four
Status: Permanently banned from working as a private certifier — copping the heaviest sentence handed out to a private certifier in 20 years
Mr Frexias approved the fast tracking of internal alterations on a multimillion dollar waterfront house on a site in Woolwich that was identified as a heritage conservation area and was not compliant. NSWFT also found he overlooked problems with structural design, emergency egress, access for people with a disability, firefighting equipment and emergency lighting for a building in Glendenning.
In a decision handed down March 30, 2022, NSWFT said the Dix Gardner Group employee “engaged in unsatisfactory professional conduct”.
“Mr Freixas issued a construction certificate and an occupation certificate for a large apartment complex in contravention of various provisions of (NSW planning laws),” the decision said.
“Mr Freixas issued the five construction certificates for four different developments when the proposed buildings did not comply with relevant requirements of the Building Code of Australia, specifically the requirements in relation to automatic fire sprinklers.”
In April NSW Fair Trading Minister Eleni Petinos revealed he claimed to have completed a building inspection on a Mascot apartment block – and subsequently issued an occupation certificate – despite being in China at the time.
Lyall Dix
Director of Dix Gardner
Fines: $88,500
Fair Trading reprimands/cautions: 10
Status: He was banned for five years (2012-2017) but remains a company director
Lyall Dix is the state’s most fined certifier. In 2012, according to NSW Fair Trading, he issued a construction certificate for a residential flat building in Allawah which was inconsistent with the development consent because it has an additional residential apartment, lift shaft and carparking area and driveway. In 2012 Mr Dix issued a final occupation certificate when the Blacktown building had not been fitted with a compliant fire hydrant system. NSW Fair Trading said Dix Gardner can no longer offer certification services in NSW.
Glenn Levick
BCA Certifiers building certifier
Fines: $55,000
Fair Trading reprimands/cautions: Eight
Status: Still on the job
One of Mr Levick’s failures, according to NSWFT, was issuing a construction certificate for a seniors living complex despite there being 25 differences between the council approved application and Mr Levick’s construction certificate.
These differences included additional rooms, removal of doors and windows, relocation of lifts, and an increase in building height.
Bernard Cohen
Director of Essential Certifiers, Essential Food and Health Inspections and 11 other companies
Fines: $37,000
Reprimands/cautions: 28
Status: Manages his company “ensuring work methods are adhered to”, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Mr Cohen was banned from being a certifier for five years in 2010 for what Judge O’Connor described as “basic errors of judgement”. Despite his record he is still able to run his certifying company.
His last reprimand, in 2011, was “issuing a final occupation certificate for a
building when it was not suitable for occupation or use in accordance with its classification under the Building Code of Australia”.
Brendan Bennett
Managing director of City Plan Services, Seillans Properties and 28 other companies
Fines: $28,000
Fair Trading cautions/reprimands: Four
Status: Active in the industry
In 2018 Fair Trading said Mr Bennett issued a construction certificate for proposed alterations to a hotel in Glebe with endorsed plans that were “not consistent with the development consent, that failed to accurately depict the layout of the existing building and that showed additional/unauthorised works”.
He was also fined for issuing a complying development certificate for a proposed two-storey dwelling in Clontarf “that did not comply with the Codes SEPP (the dwelling in part contained three storeys)”.
Glenn Fitzgibbon
Director of Southern Certifiers
Fines: $33,500
Fair Trading reprimands/cautions: 29
Status: Remains a company director despite being banned for five years
Mr Fitzgibbon has been disciplined by NSWFT for failings in relation to fire safety, ignoring clients and their inquiries about issuing occupation certificates, disability access and approving defective stormwater work. In relation to a property in Albion Park, NSWFT said he “issued a final occupation certificate for dwelling when the building (was) not suitable for occupation”.
Join the conversation
Chef arrested after man stabbed multiple times
NSW Police were called to a seafood restaurant in Sydney, after a fight broke out between two employees. One man was allegedly stabbed multiple times.
Read more
Beers, bread rolls and KFC: Campsite’s remnants of teen festivities marred by death
The campsite where a 15-year-old from Picton spent his final hours before being allegedly killed by a 32-year-old Narellan man, still has remnants of teenage festivities.
Read more