AJ Sadauskas on Nostr: NSW's dodgy apartment crisis continues. For a long time, Australia has accepted ...

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.
...
"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had previously registered with a state government project to remove and replace combustible cladding but had since withdrawn.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

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