Jordan Springs: Residents fear their homes could be sinking
Residents of a western Sydney housing estate have discovered their homes and street have sunk more than a foot in the last year.
Penrith
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Jordan Springs East resident Sandeep says the land in his front yard had sunk more than a foot over the past year.
But Lendlease says potential homeowners should not be concerned about building their homes in Jordan Springs East.
This is despite the demolition of an unoccupied house on Armoury Rd, which previously stood on the western side of Armoury Rd near Private Cct.
A section of Armoury Rd has been closed since December due to ground settlement concerns.
Ground settlement is defined as the vertical movement of the ground.
Geotechnical experts were contracted by Lendlease to assess settlement issues at 59 Armoury Rd.
The experts confirmed there was no safety risk.
An empty house owned by Lendlease was demolished on December 16 according to Penrith Council, with all neighbouring residents contacted.
“While the house was repairable and safe to live in, we determined that it was unlikely to meet Lendlease’s expectation of quality,” Lendlease’s senior development manager Kevin Montier said.
A series of geotechnical investigations have been conducted since 2018 in addition to rectification works at Armoury Rd.
Sandeep said Lendlease came out and checked for cracks inside his house, which they didn’t find, but didn’t address the sinking land under his driveway.
“I had to use two tonnes of soil just to fill the sinkage, and it’s not just me,” he said.
“The two houses up from me have similar problems.”
However, Mr Montier said the company had addressed Sandeep’s concerns.
“Some settlement in new developments is expected,” he said.
“The geotechnical engineers have confirmed that Sandeep’s property has experienced settlement that’s in-line with what would be expected and he’s been advised as such.
“We’re in ongoing contact with Sandeep and have offered to reinspect his property.”
Mr Montier confirmed the company was working to rectify the ground settlement problem on Armoury Rd.
“Work has been undertaken to rectify the road, which we anticipate will be reopened early in the year,” he said.
“To minimise the impact to residents, we removed a house that fronted onto the road where the settlement occurred.”
A council spokeswoman said it was notified of the demolition just days before it was completed.
“Penrith Council is seeking to determine the cause of the settlement from the developer for the recently repaired road as a high standard of quality must be maintained for development in our city,” she said.
“Council continues to work with all developers to meet this standard, including monitoring, observing and requesting appropriate certification information to ensure compliance.”
Lendlease said any customer affected by the issue had its full support.
“We have a strong reputation in creating exception communities and are proud of our work,” a spokeswoman said.
“If a customer is affected by this issue, they will have the full support of Lendlease.”