25 April 2021 As if they weren't expensive enough, new Sydney home prices are being pushed up by sky rocketing insurance claims that are gouging taxpayers for more than $700 million. Claims have surged for defective work by dodgy builders - some who've since disappeared. OCN's Executive Officer, Karen Stiles, was interviewed for this news article. Seven News > View recording here
19 April 2021 Owners of high-rise buildings in Sydney will finally receive advice from the NSW government as early as Monday about what products they should use to replace flammable cladding found on their towers. The long-awaited findings from a report by the state’s cladding product safety panel are set to be released, helping to end years of uncertainty in NSW about whether replacement products are safe or too risky. “Owners [...]
10 April 2021 A Sydney woman has been told there is nothing the NSW Building Commissioner can do to help recover her life savings after she bought into a 300-apartment tower that had alleged major defects, despite him reportedly saying an investigation is “likely” to uphold her concerns. It comes as the Herald can reveal a sharp decline in fines being handed out to private certifiers for signing off on dodgy [...]
20 MARCH 2021 A Sydney apartment buyer stands to lose her life savings or be forced to buy into a 300-unit development that she has been warned contains major defects. Maryam Behrouz’s pursuit of the great Australian dream has become “a nightmare” after being told she must settle the $625,500 purchase in Kellyville because the building has been ticked off by a private certifier. When Ms Behrouz tracked down the certifier’s [...]
15 MARCH 2021 The developer of a 16-storey apartment tower in western Sydney, which has been singled out by NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler as one of the worst he has inspected, has been handed orders forcing it to fix serious defects. The tower at 93 Auburn Road in Auburn has joined a growing list of apartment buildings to have been slapped with orders in recent weeks as the commissioner steps up [...]
15 MARCH 2021 Serious defects continue to damage the reputation and value of many Sydney apartment towers. Channel 7 News > Watch Clip Here
24 FEBRUARY 2021 The new building commissioner appointed to raise standards in NSW’s construction industry – and his willingness to use his unprecedented legal powers to do so – is having a major impact on the standard of projects around the state. Six months on from being given the right to enter and inspect construction sites, issue rectification and stop-work orders, and prevent settlement on sub-standard properties, industry watchers say David [...]
18 FEBRUARY 2021 Developers have been slapped with orders to fix serious defects in apartment buildings and townhouses, as the NSW Building Commissioner signals he will not hesitate using his strongest powers to stamp out shoddy work in the construction industry. Almost six months after his powers came into force, commissioner David Chandler has issued prohibition orders in the past week to developers of four buildings in Sydney and Forster, north [...]
15 FEBRUARY 2021 Construction on the first projects to start under a three-year program to remove combustible cladding from 225 high-risk apartment complexes in NSW will kick off around the middle of the year, the government in that state says. In an announcement last week, NSW Minister for Better Regulation Kevin Anderson unveiled details of the state’s cladding rectification scheme which was announced in last October’s budget. Labelled Project Remediate, the [...]
A SYDNEY apartment block with serious structural problems which could cost each homeowner tens of thousands of dollars to fix has been shut down before completion. But despite NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler uncovering holes in walls and “serious structural compromise” of the Strathfield building, the project’s 45-year-old property developer claimed he’s never been on a job site where Australian building standards have ever been fully followed. The OandE Developments worksite [...]
Owners Corporation Network
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
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.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email [email protected]
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.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.
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]
