More damage found in Sydney’s troubled Opal Tower

The developer behind the troubled Opal Tower says it has been given advice that the building’s foundations are not the cause of the damage that has forced hundreds of residents out of their homes.

• Residents have to move hotels
• Gardens centre of investigations
• Photos: Inside the cracking Opal Tower

The developer behind the troubled Opal Tower says it has been given advice that the building’s foundations are not the cause of the damage that has forced hundreds of residents out of their homes.

In a statement released this afternoon, developer Ecove said it was confident there was no issue with the 38-storey buildings foundations.

“We are confident there is no issue with the foundations as they are built on shale bedrock, which is common in Sydney. The builder has advised that there is no relationship between the building foundations and what has occurred,” a written statement from the company said.

Ecove also shut down a rumour it had voiced concerns about the building’s design behind closed doors.

“Ecove has not said we are concerned about design flaws; we don’t have sufficient information yet to narrow our concerns. We are waiting on information,” the statement said.

More damage was discovered at the troubled Opal Tower with engineers working to install structural support on the fourth floor late last night.

Just days after the developer Ecove claimed the building’s problems were a “localised issue” limited to one panel on the 10th floor, it can now be revealed two areas on the fourth floor have also been found damaged.

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In a statement released about 6.30pm yesterday after a three-hour meeting, design engineering firm WSP said the areas showed “evidence of some but lesser damage” compared to the cracked panel which has been the centre of investigations.

“As a precautionary measure, propping is being installed to support Level 4, and this will be completed by Icon Co (builder) by the end of today,” a WSP spokeswoman said in a statement.

“The building is structurally sound overall.”

WSP warned units that are near the damage or blocked by propping will not be able to be occupied until repairs are completed.

It comes as The Daily Telegraph can reveal a line of inquiry relates to the Sydney Olympic Park site itself, which had previously housed chemical waste.

An insider also said developer Ecove was blaming design flaws while the builder Icon has been suggesting the fault lies with the precast concrete panel.

Engineers representing WSP Australia, the Kajima Corporation, the Japanese parent of builder Icon, Rincovitch, an independent third party appointed by Icon, and the body corporate-appointed company Cardno attended the 2pm meeting.

Two professors of engineering appointed by the state government to carry out an independent investigation of the fiasco were also present, as well as a representative from Ecove.

In a statement released to residents yesterday, Icon shut down claims published in The Australian that engineers had ruled out “any inherent fault” in prefabricated concrete panel as the cause of the Opal Tower cracking.

Icon said they were “unable to pre-empt or confirm the findings” given the investigation is ongoing.

An Ecove spokesman denied the company had been trying to shift the blame on to the building’s designers.

Homebush Bay previously housed an abattoir and up until 1976 the site was used to manufacture the ingredients for Agent Orange, a powerful herbicide used in the Vietnam War.

Toxic soil had to be removed from the site as part of redeveloping the area for the 2000 Olympic Games.

An industry source told The Daily Telegraph the fact the Opal site is on heavily remediated land could have had impacted the building’s movement.

When asked whether the site’s history was being investigated, University of NSW Dean of Engineering Mark Hoffman, who is leading the government’s inquiry, said: “The site certainly but I can’t say what aspects of it”.

“A lot of people have a lot different views,” he said.

A NSW Department of Planning and Environment spokesman said there was “no evidence to suggest contaminating activities had been undertaken on the Opal Tower site” according to an Environmental Impact Statement prepared for the development in 2014.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian this morning hit back at Labor accusations the government had been missing in action and wasn’t involved early enough, saying they were “absolutely ridiculous”.

“We’ve got experts in the field supporting those engineers to see what is the root cause of the issue and of course we’ll deal with it as soon as we know what the root cause is,” Ms Berejiklian said in Western Sydney.

“We were active from the first day and I firstly want to say I can imagine how absolutely frustrating it would be if that was any of us anytime of the year but to have it happen at this time of the year would just be awful.

“I really, really empathise with all those residents but the government is doing everything we can to make sure we get to the root cause of what happened.

“I think what is important is for us to deal in the facts — we need to know exactly what happened so that we can make sure that all buildings are safe.”

Asked whether the government should accept some of the responsibility for the fault at Opal Tower, which is a state significant development approved by the Department of Planning, Ms Berejiklian did not answer directly.

“Look, the certifier process that’s been in was actually something we inherited from the Labor government but what we need to do as a government is to make sure we get to the root cause of what has caused that disruption in that building,” she said.

“Once we know what the facts are we can then see if we need to take further action.”