Brookvale Rent A Space boss Thomas Whalan speaks for first time since fire

THE boss of Rent A Space self-storage has spoken publicly for the first time about the devastation caused to his customers by the fire that ravaged the Brookvale complex more than three weeks ago

The rear of the main building at Rent A Space Brookvale showing waste skips containing rubbish.

• First look inside the fire-ravaged Rent A Space at Brookvale
• Fire victime desperate to salvage precious items
• Long wait ahead for Rent A Space fire victims

THE boss of Rent A Space self-storage has spoken publicly for the first time about the devastation caused to his customers by the fire that ravaged the Brookvale complex more than three weeks ago

Thomas Whalan, the company’s general manager said he was keen to allow people the chance to check if their possessions were salvageable.

But he told the Manly Daily that he and the company still have to abide by directions from authorities, building experts and his insurance company that do not yet allow public access to the site.

Mr Whalan, a four-time Australian Olympic water polo player, also wanted to reassure his 550 customers that any unsalvageable material removed from storage lockers would not be thrown on a public dump, but taken to a protected landfill site.

Customers have been frustrated that they have not been allowed to check their lockers to retrieve potentially undamaged family possessions.

Rent A Space has already advised them that material in the 290 lockers located in the main building, where the fire occurred, cannot be salvaged.

Rent A Space self-storage general manager Thomas Whalan.

The company has also stressed that it was likely that only a small number of goods would be saved “if any” from the other three storage buildings on the site even though they were not damaged by the fire itself.

Mr Whalan said he wanted to put on the record how devastated he and Rent A Space staff were for their customers.

“We very much sympathise what our customers are going through,” he said.

Mr Whalan said the company was trying to provide an opportunity for customers, who had storage lockers in the three buildings not directly affected by the fire, to view their goods.

‘The biggest things our insurers and (building and demolition) contractors need to take into account is safety.

“We understand that people want to be able to view those goods.

“We don’t know the extent of damage in the individual storage units because we haven’t opened those.

“But we intend to go through a process to allow customers to view them, either through video or photos, taken by people authorised to be in these buildings.

“As soon as we get a better understanding of what the time line is we’ll be letting all those customers know.”

Workers inspect the eastern wall of the fire-damaged Rent A Space self-storage facility at Brookvale. Picture: Facebook

Mr Whalan said the company will have to abide by a clean-up order they expect will be finalised soon by Northern Beaches Council as well as NSW Government rules around the removal of hazardous materials.

He expects that the council clean up order will require that RAS remove any likely hazardous or contaminated material and fire debris.

Mr Whalan wanted to reassure customers that any material removed from the site would not end up in a public rubbish dump.

Fire damage in the main building at Rent A Space, Brookvale.

Material would be disposed of at a specialised, regulated facility for hazardous waste, understood to be at Kemps Creek in western Sydney, which was not open to the public.

Mayor Michael Regan and Manly MP James Griffin met with Mr Whalan last week where they made strong representations about customer concerns and the need for a better communications plan.

Council served a proposed Clean-Up Notice to the building owners last week that was expected to finalised soon.

At this stage, there was no requirement for immediate demolition of the main building.