Inquiry ordered after Sydney building faults force residents to flee

The NSW government has ­ordered an urgent review of the structural integrity of buildings at Sydney’s Olympic Park.

Stranded Opal Tower resident Delsa Daryaei. Picture: Simon Bullard

The NSW government has ­ordered an urgent review of the structural integrity of buildings at Sydney’s Olympic Park after cracks opened up “like from a horror movie” in a new residential skyrise approved under fast-track legislation.

The construction fault, which left some doors jammed by warping and many residents barred from their homes last night, prompted questions about whether planning and construction supervision was keeping up with the breakneck speed of devel­opment in western Sydney.

Structural engineer Ali Hadigheh, from the University of Sydney, said the apparent damage to Opal Tower — more often associated with buildings in the developing world where construction codes and compliance control can be lax — was of a type he had never seen in Australia.

Authorities yesterday allowed occupants of most apartments in the new 392-unit Opal Tower to return to their properties, but some were too fearful to go after what they described as a terrifying experience that started on Monday afternoon when residents heard concrete around their homes creak loudly and saw ­masonry dislodge and fall. Occupants of 51 units deemed unsafe were allowed back in only briefly to take living essentials after a prefabricated 18sq m concrete panel installed 10 floors up cracked, and a 1-2mm shift of a structural column rendered the front doors of three apartments immovable.

A spokesman for Fire and ­Rescue NSW said last night: ­“One-third of the building isn’t going to be re-occupied because we’re not satisfied that it would be safe to do so.”

Architect Delsa Daryaei’s Christ­mas was “messed up” after her level 32 unit was deemed unsafe for occupancy, forcing her to seek accommodation at a hotel with her mother, Mojgan.

“We spent all of our money just for two nights in a hotel,” Ms Daryaei said. “It’s Christmas, when everything is expensive. I’ve worked all year to have two weeks off, and now I can’t do anything.”

One of the damaged walls inside the building.

Building managers have told those still unable to return to their homes that compensation would be paid.

Authorities had moved quickly to evacuate about 300 residents of the building and 3000 people from the surrounding area.

The building, which cost developer Ecove $165 million to build, was pushed through under the significant development legislation, which largely allows projects to avoid council planning approval processes and receive sign-offs from the state government.

A spokesman for Planning Minister Anthony Roberts said the minister was “very concerned about the building”.

“His first concern is for the safety of the residents,” he said.

“He has asked his department to urgently report to him what steps were taken to ensure the structural integrity of the building and other structures at Olympic Park.”

The pace of development, particularly in western Sydney, has raised serious questions about the capacity of state government authorities to cope. Earlier this month, a NSW Auditor-General’s report found the Department of Planning would struggle to meet infrastructure spending targets in the next four years, despite 196,750 new dwellings being built across Sydney between 2017 and 2022.

Opal Tower residents described the Christmas Eve experience as horrifying. “When I first heard the noises, I thought ‘This is not right’”, said Yogi, who did not want his surname published.

He said he heard creaking “like from a horror movie”, and was not surprised to hear a fire alarm ring throughout the building shortly after.

Yogi, whose apartment is near the damage reported on level 10, said he was confused as to why he had been told he could return to his apartment when his next door neighbour’s unit had been deemed unsafe.

The building, which started taking in residents in August and has had 151 of its 392 units sold, was developed by Ecove but built by mid-tier construction group Icon, now owned by Japanese group Kajima.

GRAPHIC: What failed

In promotional literature, Opal Tower is described by the Sydney Olympic Park Business Association as a “glistening signpost” that would be “environmentally sound and ecologically efficient” and have “a series of dramatic vertical feature walls”.

Icon did not comment yesterday, but a structural engineering source close to the investigation said the problem had been isolated to a pre-cast panel measuring 6m x 3m and 30cm thick, which was attached to columns to form the walls of the building and ran from levels 10 to 12.

The panel had been made by another company in a factory off-site and lifted to fit on to the building.

The source said the structural integrity of the building itself was not compromised, but a crack of this type was highly surprising months after completion.

“It was pre-cast 18 months ago, and this is a little unusual,” the source said.

Dr Hadigheh expressed a similar view, saying use of prefabri­cated concrete elements was common in modern construction and the curing of pre-cast panels normally occurred in a factory with good quality assurance, meaning that shrinkage should not be an issue.

Any settling into foundations should have already occurred.

When problems did arise, he said, they were usually the result of the connections of the panels to the buildings rather than the panels themselves.

“We have old concrete cured in the factory, and new concrete cured on site — the weak point is in those elements,” Dr Hadigheh said.

On level 24, the Levchenko family was forced to abandon traditional Russian Christmas Eve plans prepared in the home.

“We were hoping to spend the day with family, giving gifts ­— instead we were at the evacuation centre,” Ilya Levchenko said.