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Neighbouring tower deemed too close, rejected by council

A Sydney council initially rejected a tower block development suspected of causing cracking in a neighbouring building.

Residents talk to representatives of Mascot Towers before going in to collect their necessary items. Picture: John Feder
Residents talk to representatives of Mascot Towers before going in to collect their necessary items. Picture: John Feder

A high-rise development next to the recently evacuated Mascot Towers apartment complex was initially rejected by council because it was too close to surrounding buildings but was later approved after legal action.

As Premier Gladys Berejiklian affirmed she would “get to the root cause” of the building’s damage, residents of the south Sydney apartment building remained locked out of their units as engineers and construction experts inspected major cracks in the support beams of the Mascot Tower’s underground car park. Only 64 of the 122 units in the 10-storey tower have been deemed “partially accessible”.

Building regulation expert and former secretary of the NSW Treasury, Michael Lambert, was in talks with the NSW government again yesterday after he previously criticised a lack of action when cracks were discovered at the Opal Tower in Sydney’s west at the beginning of the year.

The development application for Peak Towers on Church Avenve was rejected by the Sydney East Joint Regional Planning Panel in 2014 after it failed to “satisfy the solar access, building depth and building separation requirements for development within the Mascot Station Town”.

The development, by Aland Development Group, was later approved by the Land and Environment Court in 2016.

Aland Developments Group managing director Andrew Hrsto said speculation about the cause of the damage was “unhelpful”.

“Aland’s developments are designed, approved and built to meet all engineering and design standards and are professionally assessed by council and highly qualified designers and engineers at each stage along the way,” Mr Hrsto said.

But Mascot Towers residents said they felt vibrations through their apartment during the construction of Peak Towers.

Under part 9A of the Botany Development Control Plan 2013, apartments in the area must be 7.3m from adjacent buildings.

Outside the fenced-off Mascot Towers yesterday, residents were seen waiting in the rain for their turn to access units.

Residents hoping to collect belongings were forced to book appointments and be escorted up to their unit by the building manager. Two residents told The Australian their unit was one of the 58 deemed unsafe to enter.

“We have no possessions but the clothes on our back,” she said.

MGM Properties principal real estate agent Michael Xylas, who has managed units in the Mascot Tower for more than a decade, said many of the units in the tower were essentially worthless: “I’ve had owners in my office crying.”

Resident Fabiano dos Santos told The Australian he tried to book an appointment to get his belongings from his unit but was told he wouldn’t be able get his belongings until Thursday.

“I need to get my daily blood pressure and kidney medicine but they don’t care. I don’t even have a wallet or ID on me,” Mr dos Santos said.

Additional reporting: Elias Visontay

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/property/neighbouring-tower-deemed-too-close-rejected-by-council/news-story/f3b4c4b2d82dac8ebc22ccd296da00be