Building Commissioner issues stop-work orders

CommissionerWeb

Well, it’s about time, but the NSW Building Commissioner has used the new powers of his office to issue prohibition orders to four developers stopping them getting occupation certificates until defects have been fixed. The prohibition orders prevent developers and builders from settling apartments until the defects are fixed.

A 10-storey apartment building at Forster with defects in waterproofing and external cladding has been served a prohibition order. This, no one will be surprised to hear, is a privately certified building.

Another privately certified 6-storey apartment building in Strathfield, with serious structural defects has been served a prohibition order, with Commissioner David Chandler quoted in the SMH on 18 February as saying the building was “one of the worst he had seen, leaving him no choice but to issue a stop-work order”.

A development of townhouses in Lindfield has been stopped to fix wall and bathroom tiles and waterproofing, and in a wonderful coincidence has been certified by Dix Gardner, our very favourite certifiers! That’s a shock, isn’t it.

Another privately certified apartment building in Lidcombe near Sydney Olympic Park has been stopped and ordered to fix waterproofing and tiling defects.

And developers of properties in Neutral Bay and Mascot have also been ordered to fix serious defects in mechanical car-stacking systems being installed. Both of these are privately certified as well. Bit of a pattern here, don’t you think?

These problems have all arisen from audits that have identified problems not detected by the relevant PCA. The SMH again quotes “he signalled more notices would be handed out in coming weeks”. Go hard, David.

Bloody hell, after all these years, what can we possibly say?

Told you so, told you so, told you so.

It’s in the Minister’s office but nothing’s happening. It has been:

since the Government and the Minister were appointed on 5 April 2023. We are still waiting for the legislative changes required.

Copyright © 2024 The Development and Environmental Professionals' Association (depa). All Rights Reserved. Webdesign: Dot Online