Fire audit cost for Coast may top $1.4 million

How a London fire has left Coast building owners $1.4 million out of pocket

Highly combustible cladding which ignited in the Lacrosse apartments building in Melbourne's Docklands district caused enormous damage but helped spark a safety audit now under way in Queensland.

SUNSHINE Coast unit owners face costs totalling up to $1.4 million by the end of this month to comply with a fire safety audit being conducted on all buildings three storeys and over in Queensland.

Individual building body corporates have been paying up to $4000 for compliance inspections of their premises to ensure they are not compromised by flammable cladding.

There were 249 buildings in the Sunshine Coast Council area and another 99 in Noosa which were subject to compliance with the audit.

Body corporate manager Peter Bryant, of Caloundra, said three Brisbane buildings he controlled had been costly just to investigate.

He said two shouldn't have even been on the compliance list because they had no cladding but had still required body corporate members to spend thousands of dollars to provide a report.

The third building did have cladding but it had been the correct, non-combustible, type.

Minister for Housing and Public Works Mick de Brenni yesterday met with the Strata Community Association to listen to their concerns about cost.

"I have asked the Queensland Building and Construction Commission to examine allegations that some building professionals are possibly charging exorbitant fees to assist property owners to assess their buildings,” he said.

"I look forward to receiving advice from QBCC Commissioner Brett Bassett.”

Mr Bryant said the government had to do something to ensure fire safety.

"But there are big costs involved,” he said. "I'm concerned about having to do the two with no cladding. It cost $1000 to do the first stage (of the audit) with another $3000 for the second stage.

"We're bucking that and have complained because there is no justification. There's probably not a better way. It's a big task and there were sure to be mistakes.

"But I certainly wouldn't want it (a fire) to happen to any of my buildings.”

The 2017 Grenfell Towers fire in London has sparked a costly audit of all Queensland buildings of three floors or more.

The Queensland Government acted after a 2014 fire in the Lacrosse apartment building in Melbourne's Docklands and the horrific 2017 Grenfell Tower blaze in London claimed 72 lives when combustible cladding caught alight.

Across the state more than 4300 buildings face Part 2 assessments under the Safer Buildings combustible cladding check list, which required building owners to engage a building industry professional to complete a report on the materials used on the building's exterior.

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission said more than 20,000 building assessments had been registered with it before March 29.

Around 68 per cent of those were now effectively cleared following the conclusion of Part 1.

Owners completing Part 2 have until May 29, 2019 to engage a professional and provide the report to the QBCC.

A spokesperson said building owners who already knew or suspected they had combustible cladding on their building were able to progress directly to Part 3, saving the cost of engaging a building industry professional.

Originally published as Fire audit cost for Coast may top $1.4 million