Level crossing removal: Carrum residents forced out as brick wall collapses
LEVEL crossing removal works are being blamed for a brick wall collapsing in a Carrum building yesterday morning.
Inner South
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LEVEL crossing removal works have been blamed for a brick wall collapsing in a Carrum building yesterday morning.
The bedroom wall of Seacombe House partially collapsed at about 10.30am, sending tonnes of bricks crashing onto a porch below.
Residents are blaming the damage on nearby level crossing removal works.
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Witness Wayne Newman said he was in his shop, on the ground floor of the building, when he heard a “huge bang”.
“It was like an explosion and I knew the wall had collapsed,” he said.
“I went outside and the porch was completely destroyed and there were piles of bricks on the vacant block next door.
“If anyone had been standing nearby they would have been killed, no doubt about it.”
An elderly woman, who lives above Mr Newman’s shop, had a lucky escape.
She had been evacuated the night before after Kingston Council was alerted to a “dangerous bulge” in the side wall of the building.
“She asked me to come and have a look at her wall earlier in the day and when I went up there I could see that the bricks were starting to come away,” Mr Newman said.
“I got onto the council and they came out straight away.”
Planning and Development General Manager Jonathan Guttmann said officers determined the site was unsafe and helped the woman evacuate.
“They then proceeded to enact emergency ‘make-safe’ procedures both on-site and for the public in the immediate area,” Mr Guttmann said.
The Level Crossing Removal Authority took possession of Seacombe House and the vacant block next door three weeks ago.
The authority cleared soil and a small amount of vegetation from the vacant block earlier this week.
Leader understands planned work to level the ground was not carried out because of concerns about existing cracks in Seacombe House.
LXRA Acting Project Director — Southern Program Bradley Smits said the authority was working with Kingston Council to ensure the area was safe.
Seacombe House will eventually be demolished as part of the Carrum revitalisation works.
Mr Newman said he was told to leave his business — Addie’s Hobbies — yesterday afternoon.
“I don’t know if I’ll be allowed to go back in or if everything will be packed up for me and put in storage,” he said.
Neighbour Jan Murnane said she had noticed a large bulge on the side of Seacombe House before the wall collapsed.
“It’s an old house and like a lot of places around here has various cracks but that bulge was new. The fact that it happened around the time the work started on the block next door seems like too much of a coincidence,” she said.
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