21 July 2021 Sydney developer Toplace has agreed to be liable for any structural defects in its new Skyview towers complex for 20 years, in order to get buyers into their apartments. The agreement is the first of its kind and is expected to set a new benchmark of accountability for developers across the state. Dominic Gianni The Riotact.com > Read the full article here
3 July 2021 The NSW construction watchdog has major concerns that body corporates are underreporting serious defects in high-rise apartment buildings to government officials charged with cleaning up the construction industry and restoring public confidence. A survey of more than 500 buildings in NSW built in the past six years found that 36 per cent had serious defects. Of those with defects, just 17 per cent of the buildings had already [...]
21 June 2021 NSW building commissioner David Chandler has fired a warning shot for developers in the state, placing prohibition orders on five apartment projects in Sydney. Chandler, installed as the state’s first building commissioner in mid-2019, has been equipped with a raft of sweeping new powers—formally commencing in early-September—to prevent occupation certificates or strata plan registrations before defective buildings can enter the market. Ted Tabet The Urban Developer > Read [...]
5 June 2021 Efforts to curb dodgy developers and their farcical phoenixing frauds have been the focus of a lot of media coverage of late, but what does it all mean? Are the efforts by the New South Wales government to implement substantial reforms in the apartment development industry actually making a difference? Are they likely to encourage potential buyers or do the many small victories simply remind us that there’s [...]
OCN MEDIA RELEASE: 2 June 2021 As the New South Wales government implements substantial reforms to the design, delivery and consumer protections for apartments, many owners have been left wondering what it means for them. The Owners Corporation Network OCN, with support from City of Sydney, is holding a live event that will give attendees an opportunity to get the facts straight from the source. Strata Matters on 20 July from [...]
14 May 2021 The NSW Building Commissioner says he will refer the principal engineers involved in a large Sydney residential development where "structural issues" were found to the industry's peak body. Karen Stiles, Executive Officer, Owners Corporation Network was interviewed. ABC News > View recording here > Read article here
13 May 2021 ABC News > View recording here
10 May 2021 A bayside apartment building in Melbourne has been evacuated over safety fears due to combustible cladding. The Port Phillip Council municipal building surveyor has ordered residents of a St Kilda apartment building with combustible cladding concerns and other fire safety matters to leave within two weeks, Mayor Louise Crawford said in a statement. Jack Paynter News.com.au > Read full article here
7 May 2021 LONDON -- Fire broke out Friday in a London, U.K., apartment tower which has cladding similar to that used on another housing block in the city where 72 people died in a 2017 blaze. London Fire Brigade said about 125 firefighters tackled a fire that spread to three floors of a 19-storey building in the city's Docklands. The fire brigade said "firefighters wearing breathing apparatus have carried out [...]
5 May 2021 Apartment owners in Sydney’s Mascot Towers will vote this month on a $40 million proposal to sell their troubled apartment tower as a redevelopment site, with many resigned to losing up to 80 per cent on their property as the most realistic way to end their two-year nightmare. Apartment advocacy group Owners Corporation Network says a review of NSW strata laws under way should reduce the scope for [...]
Owners Corporation Network
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To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
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Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
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Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to [email protected]
