VCAT tells builders LU Simon to pay $5.7m over Lacrosse tower
Docklands apartment owners whose homes were ruined by a near-fatal cladding fire in 2014 have won a multimillion-dollar compensation lawsuit likely to send shockwaves through the industry.
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Docklands apartment owners whose homes were ruined by a near-fatal cladding fire in 2014 have won a multimillion-dollar compensation lawsuit likely to send shockwaves through the industry.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Thursday told builders LU Simon to pay $5.7 million over the inferno at the Lacrosse tower.
Consultants have been asked to foot most of this. VCAT found all were partly liable for the blaze and the flammable cladding.
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Building surveyor Gardner Group, architect Elenberg Fraser and fire engineer Thomas Nicolas were each told to pay nearly a third of the costs for their role in the construction.
Another $6.8 million in damages claims is to be resolved.
The decision is likely to raise questions over whether builders will be held responsible for dangerous cladding — a worldwide concern since London’s Grenfell Tower tragedy in June 2017, which killed 72.
Since December 2017, the Victorian Government has audited more than 2000 buildings believed to have flammable cladding.
The quick-moving Docklands fire on November 24, 2014, was ignited by a resident’s cigarette butt on a lower balcony. Aluminium cladding caught fire, and flames engulfed the 23-storey building.
More than 300 residents were forced to evacuate to what was then Etihad Stadium.
Scientists researching the cladding, which was imported from China, found it was so flammable it nearly damaged their equipment during testing.
The cladding, made from aluminium sheets and a polyethylene fibre core, is similar to the material blamed for the Grenfell fire.
VCAT’s Judge Ted Woodward said the damage to the building had been extensive, and “the applicants claim current and anticipated future losses exceeding $12 million”.
He said it was “to the great credit of the fire crews and other first responders (that) all of the approximately 400 occupants of the building evacuated safely and without injury”.
Hundreds of buildings nationwide are believed to have used the aluminium cladding.
Builders Collective of Australia president Phil Dwyer said: “This will set a precedent for other buildings in Victoria.
“All these years later the panels are still on the buildings, and they can burn like fury. Our industry has let down these people.
“We have a hell of a mess in the building industry, and it’s Australia-wide.
“Builders or consultants … have a responsibility to rectify issues and ensure that it (is) legally compliant.”