Mascot Towers: Building Commissioner says repairs won’t happen soon
The NSW Building Commissioner has claimed work to fix Mascot Towers will not happen “anytime soon”, while the owners corporation has pleaded with the state government to help fund the remediation work.
Southern Courier
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- Mascot owners vote to raise $7 million to fix building defects
- Mascot Towers evacuated after ‘large crack’ appears
The NSW Building Commissioner has claimed work to fix Mascot Towers will not happen “anytime soon” despite unit owners being told remediation work could begin on September 30.
Residents of the complex’s 132 apartments were evacuated in mid-June due to cracking in the primary support structure and facade masonry, and have since been living in temporary accommodation.
At an extraordinary general meeting last month, which ran late into the night, unit owners passed a motion to pay a $7 million levy plus GST to begin work to fix the cracked building.
However, on Monday, a letter was sent on behalf of the owners corporation to NSW Better Regulation Minister Kevin Anderson pleading with the minister for financial support, so they could sign a contract for remediation work to begin.
“The strata committee conducted a survey which revealed that 35 per cent of the respondents will be unable to pay the levy that was recently struck for $7.7 million,” the letter, obtained by the Southern Courier, read.
“The engineering professionals associated with Mascot Towers have worked extremely hard in the last three months to get to a point where remediation work can commence on the building.
“The strata committee is aware that many owners in the building will be unable to pay
their levies which means they cannot currently sign the contract to begin rectification works.
“We request that the Government provides financial assistance so rectification works can commence, and the building does not deteriorate to a point where it is commercially unviable to fix.”
The letter also stated that if the building was left too long it would become worse and require even more money to fix it.
The current proposal is for stage one work to begin on September 30, the letter confirmed.
However, newly appointed NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler spoke in front of a budget estimates hearing on Monday, and raised concerns about whether the engineers were in a position to start work on the building.
“They are not in a position to start the work any time soon,” Mr Chandler claimed.
“It is OK to come up with something that is urgent that they need to do immediately, but what is missing is what is all the work that is required to actually pull that building back to a point that it might achieve an occupancy certificate?
“My concern is that they may be induced to start work on something that actually turns out to be not viable.
“I have not seen anything at this stage that has convinced me, at least, that what is proposed is viable.”
When asked what his recommendation would be for the state government to provide financial support for remediation work, he responded “I think we should cross that bridge when we see a viable plan”.
The Courier has approached engineers T.O.P. Consulting for comment, the organisation tasked with carrying out the stage one work.
Heffron state Labor MP Ron Hoenig said issues within the construction industry were widespread and a royal commission should be launched.
“I suspect the failure in the construction industry which goes back at least a generation is just so large that the only way to get to the bottom of it is through a royal commission.
“I’m not sure that there is any other solution.”
The state government is providing a no-interest loan to residents at Mascot Towers to cover the cost of temporary accommodation.
Mascot Towers Owners Corporation spokesman Patrick McGuire said last month that there were hopes some residents would be able to return home to their units in early 2020 at the earliest, following advice from the engineers.