3 JULY 2019
Building defects in the Opal Tower and Mascot Towers have cost residents financially and emotionally, but the Grenfell Tower disaster in London cost dozens of people their lives. However, a new report from Deakin University has revealed 97 per cent of apartment buildings in New South Wales, and 85 per cent across Australia have some form of structural defect. It follows studies by the University of New South Wales’ City Futures Research Centre which found 85 per cent of high-rise buildings in NSW built since 2000 have had some form of defects.
Fabric and cladding defects were the most prevalent, followed by fire protection, waterproofing, roof and rainwater disposal and structural issues, lead researcher and senior lecturer at Deakin Business School, Dr Nicole Johnston said today. Speaking to Yahoo Finance, the executive officer of the Owners Corporation Network, Karen Stiles said this situation isn’t helped by a culture of silence. She described the NSW apartment landscape as one undergoing a “very quiet haemorrhaging”. “People have [had] to move out for extended periods of time or are forced to live through a reconstruction and all of the emotional and financial and physical impacts that go with that,” she said.
> Read the full article at au.finance.yahoo.com
Lucy Dean