NSW's dodgy apartment crisis continues

[aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au]

NSW's dodgy apartment crisis continues.

For a long time, Australia has accepted shoddy construction in housing.

In detatched single-family housing, the costs and risks are limited to a single household.

But applying the same free market approach to apartment construction leads to dangerous death traps that could lead to mass casualties.

And they can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to remediate.

"A sprawling apartment complex with more than 1200 units at Carlingford is riddled with fire safety hazards that demand urgent attention from “desperate” residents who want Parramatta Council to ramp up action urgently while their lives are “endangered”.

"Defects including potentially combustible cladding, faulty or no smoke alarms and “lightweight construction” made up 269 critical defects, 81 non-critical defects and 46 nonconformances for the Somerset apartments at James St, Jenkins Rd and Thallon St.

"The defects were discussed at the council meeting on Monday night.

"The collapsed Dyldam group constructed the complex.

"Fire and Rescue NSW and contractors reported the defects to the council, which is the regulatory authority, and must take the next steps to remediate the problems.

"In an urgent letter of complaint in September from a Somerset resident to Fire and Rescue NSW, the council and Epping electorate office, the man said he was “writing in desperation” and demanded “immediate intervention” about the 269 critical defects

"The letter continued in a “beg and demand” urgent action to fix repairs while their lives were endangered.
...
"Compass Strata now manages the building management committee after the original strata firm, Result Strata Management, was permanently banned from working in the industry last year.

"Compass’ licensee in charge Mark Cowell started managing the building committee in May when fire experts were employed to identify issues.
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"FRNSW and fire contractors Celtic Fire reported potentially combustible cladding was found in aluminium composite panels in the facade but it was unclear whether the panels comprised polythene, which enabled fire to spread rapidly.

"FRNSW records indicate the owners’ corporation had previously registered with a state government project to remove and replace combustible cladding but had since withdrawn.
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"FRNSW also received updates from the strata that stated serious concerns over fire dampers.

"Fire dampers are passive fire protection products installed in walls and floors to prevent the spread of fire and smoke through a building.
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"“What was discovered points to a significant failure of the builder,’’ the report stated.

"“Every fire damper was either non-compliant or in some cases missing entirely. We have received a quote for just over $300,000 to install 74 new fire dampers in the building.’’

"The litany of defects continued including at least nine faulty fire alarm systems and diesel fuel tanks for pumps on the roof in the western building at half or three-quarter capacity.

"Fire and Rescue NSW received correspondence from the strata manager and Celtic Fire in October which stated the smoke detection equipment installed on the carpark failed to automatically reset after the clearance of smoke, the carpark exhaust fan was faulty and the smoke detection equipment failed to automatically reset after the clearance of smoke.
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"Parramatta Council’s planning and design executive director Jennifer Concato said the council did action reports immediately after receiving them from Fire and Rescue NSW.

"She said the council had been formally notified about the defects.
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"Independent councillor Kellie Darley urged a swifter response, noting FRNSW had raised problems in October 2024 but the council had still not taken action."

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/parramatta/carlingford-critical-fire-defects-at-unit-complex-on-james-st-thallon-st-jenkins-rd/news-story/e54b2431d1d008573ae80c9aebd7b96a

#building #buildings #auspol #nswpol #Urbanism #UrbanPlanning #nsw #australia #cities

[aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au]

There's more in the Sydney Morning Herald. It sounds like an absolute nightmare!

"Residents of the Somerset apartment complex in Carlingford faced a horrifying situation: their building, constructed by notorious developer Dyldam, was left with a string of defects and no functioning fire safety system. And the responsibility to organise the fix landed with Result Strata Management, which would soon become the only strata firm to be permanently banned from practising in the state.

"Owners of the hundreds of units and the building’s commercial space have spent about $800,000 fixing the problems, and by the end of this month will have fully completed all known fire safety issues with the building, said Mark Cowell, the licensee in charge of Compass Strata, which runs the building management committee.
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"But they are still grappling with the trail of destruction left by two of the industry’s most storied figures.

"“I’ve been a strata manager for 25 years, and I’ve very rarely ever seen a building in this sort of situation,” Cowell said. “It only happens when builders and developers are not held accountable early enough in the process, or are able to do a runner, to escape the consequences of their misdeeds.”

"Fire and Rescue NSW inspected the property over two days in October. The agency found the essential fire safety measures installed “were not being maintained and were not capable of operating to the standard” required by law, according to communications between Fire and Rescue and the City of Parramatta Council.
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"During the inspection, Fire and Rescue staff reported nine faults across the fire detection system: the mains power supply for the evacuation system – linked to the sound and intercom systems – had been shut off, and the system was marked “offline”.

Staff also reported a tank for two water pumps was only half full, and a relay pump was three-quarters full. “FRNSW believes that there are inadequate provisions for fire safety within the building.”

"The letter to the council expressed concern about whether the building contained combustible cladding, but it could not verify if it did. The owner’s corporation had applied for the removal of cladding under Project Remediate, but then withdrew the application, it said.

"That was a good result. The owners had already fixed almost every fire door in the property and paid for a litany of other fixes for defects.
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"The Herald revealed Dyldam to have built defective buildings across Sydney before its collapse on New Year’s Eve 2020. The company was co-founded by Sam Fayad, who is bankrupt, owing personal debts of more than $2.8 billion – believed to be the largest bankruptcy in Australia. On Monday, it was revealed he was the “Australian businessman” named in a corruption inquiry in Hong Kong. He did not respond to a request for comment.

"Dyldam is also responsible for Observatory Place, the 24-storey abandoned orange apartment block in the heart of Parramatta that was deemed so dangerous Building Commission issued a stop-work order. It is now being rectified.

"Cowell said it is difficult to know how the Carlingford building’s fire safety systems were not updated for so long because Result Strata’s record-keeping was so poor. It provided only about 12 documents to the new strata body when there should have been hundreds, he said.

"Result Strata’s Michael Lee was exposed in a Four Corners report of running an AGM of another building with security guards – reportedly paid for using owners’ funds – to control the meeting.

"Last year, Fair Trading cancelled the licences of both Result Strata and Lee after its investigation found the company had “consistently failed to appropriately disclose conflicts of interest, consistently breached the rules of conduct … charged fees for services not rendered [and] failed to ensure properties under management complied with critical fire and safety obligations”, among other things."

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-trail-of-destruction-left-by-two-of-sydney-s-most-infamous-property-figures-20260209-p5o0uh.html

[aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au]

Worth noting the bankrupt property developers behind the Carlingford buildings, Dyldam, are different to the bankrupt property developers being investigated by ICAC for trying to bribe Parramatta city councillors:

https://gts.sadauskas.id.au/@aj/statuses/01KG1M5SJWMNC6190XKZ3AJ8EB

These developers, in turn, are different to Aland, which built the infamous Mascot Towers building in Sydney that was evacuated after cracking: https://www.smh.com.au/property/news/mascot-towers-owners-settle-with-developer-as-founder-buys-20-million-vaucluse-home-20220711-p5b0s6.html

They're also different to the developers of the infamous Opal Towers in Olympic Park, which also had cracks. That was done by a firm called ICON: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-04/opal-tower-builder-launches-new-30m-crossclaim/11765280

They're also.different to Mehris, a property developer that put up a building in Auburn that the then-Building Commissioner called the worst he'd ever seen, and another in Parramatta that needed rectification: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/developer-forced-to-fix-serious-defects-in-two-parramatta-apartment-towers-20210630-p585km.html

But Dyldam is affiliated with another development company called Ellerson, that's responsible for a string of dodgy apartment buildings:

"Former Dyldam bosses Fayad Fayad, Remon Fayad, and their father Sam Fayad are behind apartment blocks in Rosebery, Parramatta and Baulkham Hills, all of which have been slapped with sanctions from the NSW Building Commissioner.

"An ABC investigation has revealed the Fayads' property management company, Ellerson Property, has led the development and sale of dozens of new apartments across Sydney, despite the collapse of their family company Dyldam and looming bankruptcy proceedings.

"One unit block, The Laneways Rosebery in Sydney's inner south, is facing two rectification orders issued by Building Commissioner David Chandler, detailing serious defects which have prevented unit owners from moving in for more than two years.
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"Ellerson Property's website promotes Observatory Place in Parramatta as an "elegant 24-storey building" still under construction.

"Despite developers claiming on social media the building would be finished in early 2022, the units which were being sold off-the-plan are now off the market as the NSW Department of Fair Trading investigates defective building work.
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"Another development belonging to the family's now-defunct business Dyldam was sanctioned two years ago for posing a "hazard to human to life".

"In October 2021, government inspectors found waterproofing issues and an awning at risk of collapsing at Modena, a 15-storey apartment block in Baulkham Hills in north-west Sydney.

"The Dyldam subsidiary company, Hills Shoppingtown Pty Ltd, that owned the block, was placed into receivership in 2021 along with 22 Dyldam subsidiaries, leaving receivers McGrathNicol to fulfil a government order to fix the building."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-04/apartments-linked-to-fayad-property-companies-sanctioned/102549750

#auspol #nswpol #planning #UrbanPlanning #cities #apartment #apartments #business #property #capitalism #nsw #australia