A partially complete apartment complex in Castle Hill has been issued with a notice to rectify fire safety issues after it failed a Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) inspection in April.
The Gay Street development was issued the Notice of Intention by The Hills Shire Council on June 15 after FRNSW discovered several fire safety breaches.
These violations included faults, isolations, and disablements on the fire indicator panel, problems with the emergency warning and intercom systems, issues with the absence of fire compartmentation in the basement carpark, and an inoperable and dry fire hydrant system (for the three of five buildings under construction within the complex).
Council staff also inspected the building and identified issues with the sprinkler system, non-compliant ceiling heights, non-related fire services found in the fire stairway and problems with fire doors not opening and closing, amongst other safety breaches.
Mayor of The Hills Shire, Dr Peter Gangemi said this latest apartment building failure would further undermine the confidence of financial institutions and prospective residents in new apartments.
“This is yet another example of how our building and certification system is letting people down,” Mayor Gangemi said.
“Too often, we see new apartment buildings failing to comply with basic building codes, and this Castle Hill development is a prime example. It’s already had dealings with the Building Commissioner and Fair Trading for building defects in the basement carpark, and now we have fire safety breaches.
“Nobody wants to buy into a new development only to discover that what they’ve purchased is incomplete and there are safety risks that could potentially harm them and their families.
“Worse, much of the expenses to fix these defects fall onto the apartment owners, which can lead to millions of dollars in costs.”
Mayor Gangemi said poorly constructed developments were adding to Sydney’s housing woes.
“The housing crisis is a topic of concern, and a real factor in that is the construction of poorly built large buildings which are preventing people from moving in or living within their homes,” Mayor Gangemi said.
“It’s also difficult to support the government’s call to override Council’s planning instruments and incentivise developers when the buildings available for investment fall short of acceptable standards.
“That’s why I’m calling on the NSW Government to throw out their proposed changes for affordable housing, and instead put measures in place that protect buyers from bearing the costs of building defects. We also need to enforce stricter regulations to prevent private certifiers from approving buildings with defects.”
In addition to Mayor Gangemi’s calls, Council will write to the Building Commissioner, urging them to use Project Intervene to have the developer resolve the safety breaches at their own cost.
