The festive season for residents of the Opal Tower in Sydney's Olympic Park has gone from bad to worse. It was Christmas Eve when residents were first asked to evacuate after a loud cracking sound was heard inside the building.
A visual inspection did not turn up any further signs of damage and residents were allowed back in hours later. Now, the builders, Icon, say the tower must be evacuated again. Icon's New South Wales Managing Director, Julian Doyle, says investigators need to conduct a more in-depth investigation.
A resident (left) asks questions of Icon Managing Director Julian Doyle at a press conference outside the Opal Tower. Source: AAP
"We're asking the residents to leave now so that we can absolutely investigate every part of the building unobstructed as quickly as possible. For us, the secret is getting the answer and determining what we need to do to not replicate what happened on level 10 and implement that as quickly as possible."
The investigation will be led by global engineering firm W-S-P. W-S-P's C-E-O, Guy Templeton, says all efforts will be made to get to the root of the issue.
"We need to be able to get access so that specialist engineers can work right through the building and check out all the simple structures through all of the floors. To do that, some panels may need to be removed, there may need to be some concrete testing and in that situation obviously there are people coming in and out of the building with equipment and that requires full access to the building. Our view is that it is best to have the residents move out of the building for a period and make sure that everything can be thoroughly and completely checked."
Residents are being warned the process may take up to 10 days. But some residents, such as this man, are concerned they haven't been told the entire truth.
"I actually found this out from a friend of mine and from the Meriton building manager. Last night there were people working throughout the night. As far as we got told two days ago that it was a local crack, it's actually not a local crack. There were work men and women working last night and they were propping the building up. So, there's obviously something bit more serious than what we are getting told."
Many residents have temporarily relocated to nearby hotels. But this woman says her new accommodation is not up to standard.
"Accommodation is terrible. Like Novotel and Ibis, which is really terrible compared to our apartments -- which we pay for. And nobody will be responsible for anything that goes missing in our apartments or gives any compensation."
Source: SBS
Mr Doyle says the temporary relocation is only a precautionary measure.
"Our heart goes out to them, it's a really difficult time of year and it's a difficult time to deal with a problem like this. But the issue is expediency, because if we leave the residents in place, then we'll still be trying to get access to various areas of the building I think for the next three months."
Share
