NSW watchdog orders fixes to cracked Toplace apartments
Collapsed building empire "Toplace" faces more defects, with the NSW construction watchdog ordering fixes to uncontrolled cracking and water damage to a Sydney apartment complex.
Transcript
00:00 The Assistant Building Commissioner, which is part of the state's building and construction
00:05 watchdog, has issued Hector Court with a work rectification order.
00:10 Now that is, that's when they find defects with a particular building.
00:14 And they looked at this building, which is a three block, four-story high, flat, three
00:20 different buildings, that have issues within the basement.
00:24 Uncontrolled cracking, which it's feared could lead to integrity and durability issues within
00:31 the concrete slabs, as well as waterproofing issues and some, within the ventilation system
00:36 of one of the lift shafts, there is no sealing within that and there is concern that in the
00:42 event of a fire, that could lead to the rapid spread of a fire.
00:46 Now this is a number of work rectification orders that have been issued to companies
00:51 like Hector Court.
00:53 It's one of a number of subsidiaries of Toplace, which is a building empire in Sydney.
00:59 Now there are assurances that those living, there are quite a number of people living
01:02 within this complex.
01:04 There are assurances that the building remains safe to live within and there's no risk of
01:08 evacuation.
01:09 And what's the latest with Toplace, Gavin?
01:14 Well Toplace, which has been overseeing a number of major apartment developments within
01:18 Sydney over the last 20 odd years, went into voluntary administration in April.
01:24 Now that caused a lot of concern for many subcontractors.
01:27 There were more than 600 creditors who were, some of them owed individually, multi-million
01:33 dollars some subcontractors.
01:36 But also it's left many apartment owners in limbo, many who bought off the plan into some
01:42 of the other Toplace developments and are now concerned they will have to fork into
01:47 their own savings in order to pay, foot the repair bill, upwards of hundreds of thousands
01:52 of dollars, plus their strata fees are also ballooning.
01:56 So there's been a lot of concern among apartment owners who bought off the plan with Toplace.
02:01 Toplace's owner, Jean Nassif, is actually overseas.
02:05 He's been overseas since December last year and police earlier this year issued a warrant
02:10 for his arrest but they've been unable to get in touch with him.
02:15 And as far as the administration process, the administrators are still working through
02:19 with Toplace, working out whether, if any, money can be recouped for those creditors.
02:26 And how widespread are defects in new apartments across New South Wales, Gavin?
02:33 This is a really interesting issue because there's a huge ambition in Sydney to build
02:39 up and not out now, really increase density closer to the city but also along rail lines.
02:45 Like where I am today, Kellyville is a north-western suburb where there is a real ambition to build
02:51 close to rail corridors.
02:53 But many people we've spoken to have said buying an apartment off the plan in Sydney
02:57 feels like a game of Russian roulette, you don't know if you'll have defects in your
03:02 apartments.
03:04 But there are assurances that there have been reforms in this space.
03:08 We've now got a building commissioner who's been on the job for about two years and the
03:12 Premier's touted him as a tough cop on the beat.
03:15 He's been issuing work rectification orders like this one to about 30-odd complexes just
03:21 this year alone which might make you think these defects, they're widespread, but they're
03:26 assuring us that they're getting on top of these issues before they become much more
03:30 major structural issues.
03:32 Though we can expect more work rectification orders like this one at other complexes across
03:38 Sydney.
03:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]