Mascot Towers repair cost could exceed $10 million

The cost to repair Mascot Towers is expected to exceed the $10m owners have been asked to contribute.

Residents are questioning whether $10 million is enough to fund all stages of repairs for Mascot Towers. Picture: Damian Shaw

The cost to repair damage to the troubled Mascot Towers apartment complex is expected to exceed the initial $10 million owners have been asked to contribute.

The revelation came as engineers held an extraordinary general meeting with owners last night to vote on whether “stage one” remediation works for the 132-unit block in Sydney would be raised via a $10m special levy, to be paid by residents in quarterly instalments over 15 years.

In the meeting, which went for more than four hours, owners agreed to only contribute a total of $7 million plus GST to be paid over 48 weeks.

Engineers last night confirmed to residents this cost could double as their investigation into the cause of the damage continues.

An engineer’s report by T. O. P. Consulting Group obtained by The Australian reveals there will be at least four stages of repair works that are not all covered by the $7m.

The Australian understands 30 per cent of the $10m would have been “used as a contingency”, but residents last night voted to cut out this cost, bringing the total down to $7m.

Engineers conceded the $7m would not cover all stages of repairs that include rectification of damage to external building fabric, rectification works to the first-floor transfer beams and the basement roof slab and “any foundational stabilisation works”.

The report says stage one repairs will involve only “previously scheduled” expansion joint works and work on the northeastern building corner transfer beams.

“Remedial works for the ­stages may be undertaken independently or concurrently, depending on their priority and availability of funds,” the engineer’s report states.

T. O. P. Consulting Group engineer Vadim Topolinsky stated in the report that the decision on when residents could return to their homes would come to a “reasonable equilibrium” within the next three to four months.

“However, no reliable timeline may be provided until such time as all geotechnical investigation and recommendations have been concluded,” Mr Topolinsky said.

Patrick McGuire from the Mascot Towers Owners Corporation yesterday said partial ­reoccupation of the 10-storey building could happen as early as January.

“The engineer needs to get some comfort that the funds are going to be in place and there’s a will to go with the recommen­dations,” he said.

Mr McGuire said the owners had been “very encouraged” by the appointment of NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler, who last week told a state parliamentary inquiry the unit block had been “poorly built”.

Mascot Towers was evacuated on June 14 as an emergency response to “rapid and progressive structural deterioration” of the 10-storey building’s primary structural support beams.

Investigations of the adjoining high-rise, 27 Church Avenue, are also under way to establish whether the property contributed to the defects in Mascot Towers, according to the engineer’s ­report.