Some Opal Tower residents refuse to leave despite safety concerns

Despite all residents of Sydney’s cracked Opal Tower being told to move out of the building as investigations into the its structural failure continue, some have decided not to leave.

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Despite all residents of Sydney’s cracked Opal Tower being told to move out of the building as investigations into the its structural failure continue, some are refusing to leave.

The 300-odd residents were told on Thursday the building would need to be emptied for at least 10 days.

The Sydney Olympic Park building experienced a concrete panel collapse on Monday which triggered the evacuation of the tower and the surrounding areas.

Residents were given until 5pm today to leave, but a spokesman for the building developer Ecove said some had decided to stay “for various reasons”.

“We can’t force people to move out,” the spokesman said.

Some of the residents of the Opal Tower are refusing to leave despite being asked to by the developers. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

While he said most had moved out, the company did not know how many people were planning to stay.

Ecove said residents were also being offered financial support for living expenses while engineers survey the tower.

“We’re pushing as hard as everyone else for information on what’s happened, and for speedy rectification,” the company’s director Bassam Aflak said in a statement today.

Ecove director Bassam Aflak. Picture: Monique Harmer

Engineering firm WSP, one of the investigators being employed by Icon, said the building was structurally sound but residents needed to leave to allow engineers to assess and remediate the site in the quickest time possible.

The damaged section of the building on Level 10 has been reinforced as a precautionary measure, WSP said in a statement to residents on Thursday.

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Julian Doyle, the NSW director of building company Icon, said the apartment tower was not at risk of collapsing, but the fastest way for the issue to be dealt with was to remove all residents.

“I think ultimately the building will be as it was designed to be,” he said.

An angry resident confronted Mr Doyle duringhis Thursday press conference at the base of the tower, demanding better temporary accommodation and a clearer timeline of when they would be allowed back home.

Mr Doyle could not guarantee residents would be able to move back in after 10 days.

Opposition leader Michael Daley, who visited the building on Friday, criticised Premier Gladys Berejiklian for failing to inspect the site.

“I am here again today to ask the premier to show some leadership and look after these people,” Mr Daley told reporters.

He said the NSW building certification system needed to be improved. He said developers should not be able to pick their own certifiers, and the system needed to be generally more rigorous.

Some more damage was discovered relating to concrete panels in the Opal Tower. Picture: Channel 7

The government late on Friday afternoon announced it had appointed an independent panel of engineering experts to investigate the tower.

A spokesman for Planning Minister Anthony Roberts said the government was “monitoring the situation very carefully”.

The two engineers, Professors Mark Hoffman and John Carter, will investigate the pre-cast concrete construction method used in the construction of the Opal Tower.

“If our investigation uncovers an issue relating to pre-cast concrete, that information will be shared with our report to government,” they said in a joint statement.

Originally published as Some Opal Tower residents refuse to leave despite safety concerns