Summer Hill Iglu development branded ‘dangerous’ by union

A union has called for a worksite to be shut down over the emergence of a huge pool of water near the construction and what it claims is unsafe scaffolding.

A Sydney builder is facing calls to shut its $33m site down after union officials said a giant pool of water on the project put workers in danger.

A video circulating on social media depicts the pool of water on a student housing site in Summer Hill just metres from where the building is going up.

SafeWork NSW said it had not been called to the site, nor had anyone reported the incident to inspectors as of Thursday.

The site at 74-75 Carlton Cres was formerly an ambulance station. Picture: AAP/Monique Harmer

The builder, Hansen Yuncken, declined to comment when contacted about the video of the Iglu project.

Union officials have been contacted about the water hole and said work on the project should be shut down immediately.

The CFMEU posted the video earlier this week which depicts workers walking around the giant pool which is only cordoned off by fencing on the muddy site.

“Risk of drowning,” the person filming the site can be heard saying.

“The union also identified a site with multiple safety breaches, including an unfenced and exposed pit filled with water, unsafe scaffolding and no amenities for women workers. SafeWork refused to attend the site,” CFMEU NSW Secretary Darren Greenfield said.

Screenshot from a video showing a pool of water at a Summer Hill worksite

“These latest incidents continue a shocking pattern in the way SafeWork NSW operates its reporting hotline.”

The union said fencing around the water had only recently been erected and SafeWork NSW “refused” to go out to the site.

When the development was being proposed in 2019, former Ashfield mayor Ted Cassidy raised concerns about the project’s flood management plan.

Inner West Council at the time said the four-storey building proposal was “not compatible” with the flood hazard of the plan.

Scaffolding foundations reportedly falling apart at the Iglu site in Summer Hill

An independent planning panel later approved the project.

It is the sixth “Iglu” student accommodation site in Sydney and the company has been pitching it as a cheap option for students despite charging $480 a week in rent for a single bedroom at its Redfern building in 2019.

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