Building company Icon has promised a thorough investigation to get to the root cause of the collapsed structural panel on tenth floor of the Opal Tower.
The 34-storey building is only 18 months old.
Complaints of a 'cracking sound' prompted an evacuation of 3,000 people in the surrounding area on Christmas Eve.
Icon director Julian Doyle said the investigation could go beyond 10 days, leaving residents concerned about their living arrangements and costs over the coming weeks.
"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."
Pre-cast structural panel collapsed
A visual inspection did not turn up any further signs of 'cracking' and residents were allowed back in hours later.
Emergency services personnel initially said it appeared the building had shifted up to two millimetres.
The issue was found to stem from a pre-fabricated panel developed in a factory and installed on-site.
The damaged section on the tenth floor. Source: Instagram
Fifty-one units were however deemed unsafe based on their location and the load-bearing impact from the damaged panel, which has since been reinforced with concrete.
Residents were evacuated for a second time in four days on Thursday afternoon to facilitate an investigation across the whole building.
'Expedience'
Icon director Julian Doyle apologised to residents on Thursday but said it was important to get to the 'root' of the problem.
"The issue is expedience [of the investigation]," he said.
"If we leave the residents still in place then we will still be trying to get access to various areas of the building I think for the next three months."
He assured residents that the building is structurally sound, with the problem isolated to the pre-cast panel.
Mr Doyle said the 10-day investigation would focus on examining similar panels around the building.
"We have had the opportunity since then to go in there and investigate the incident on level 10 and have dealt with that issue.
"Now we want to continue to investigate the same detail that replicates itself in sixteen locations around the building."
He apologised to residents who have been relocated to hotels nearby, with a promise of compensation.
'We don't feel safe'
Residents expressed their frustration, complaining about the communication and handling of the issue.
Seventh-floor resident Jennifer Fong said she had no complaints up until this incident but is considering ending her rental agreement.
"That is something I have to speak to my estate agent about. I don't know if other renters are going to be in the same position where if we need to break our leases. We don't feel safe here. Are we going to be penalised for that?"
She said the advice to relocate for the second time in four days has made things difficult for her family and others with small children.
"I was in an apparently safe apartment, but I wasn't given any assurance in writing or anything that 'yes, it is definitely safe to bring your children back here, you're going to be all right'.
"So it is just disappointing that the communication is just not there."
Residents demand answers after being told to leave the building for the second time this week. Source: SBS
Ms Fong said she did not know who to hold responsible, but said she hopes the investigation proves that the builders did not "cut corners".
"I don't know if it just a case of some freak thing that has happened. I would like to think. That I would like to think and like to trust that builders did the right thing when they were building this and didn't cut any corners.
"That is what I would like to think. And if that comes out that that wasn't the case then that would be very disappointing."
Another resident voiced concern that he hadn't been kept informed about the problem.
"I actually found all of this out from a friend of mine.
"As far as we got told two days ago, it was a local crack but it's actually not a local crack. So there's obviously something a bit more serious than what we are getting told."
'You cannot be calm'
Resident Delsa Daryaei said she is out of pocket $500 on her hotel bill after the first evacuation.
"Of course I'm scared. Everyone is scared because they forced people in the first night to move in. And now they said: 'no, everyone you have to move out'. So you cannot be calm because it is not normal.
She said the incident has made her want to move out from the building perhaps for good.
"I want to move out from this building because I'm not feeling... I don't want to wake up with all of this.
It is a big deal. So I don't know what will happen next. We are just waiting for answers."
'Quick resolution important for industry'
A state government inquiry has been ordered with two professors of engineering appointed to lead it.
Planning and Housing Anthony Roberts said the report will be made public once complete and will include recommendations on how to prevent future episodes.
"I've been in contact with the developer and the builder in the last 24 hours and have stressed to them my expectation that these residents are looked after," Mr Roberts told ABC News.
Source: AAP
Chris Johnson chief executive of Urban Taskforce, a group representing property developers, said it is important not to overplay fears of a building collapse.
He said building regulations in Australia are very strict in the country, and it seems the problem is centred on factory manufacture of a structural panel.
"The off-site bit is the problem, not the on-site bit. It is very strange that this has actually occurred," he said.
"Look, I'm staggered, everyone's staggered, the whole industry is amazed that a project like this - I mean, 30 storeys-plus high - brand new building, occupied and finished in August, now is evacuated."
He said usually pre-cast panels are decorative rather than structural pieces of a building - and that is a concern.
"In most cases, pre-cast is used as a decorative, rather than a structural, panel. So it's clipped onto the building. In this case, it seems it's actually structural."
"This is where we've got to be very careful. Clearly, we do need to get to the bottom of this and find out what the issues are."
He said he supports the decision by Icon to carry out a 10-day thorough investigation.
Emergency services were called to the Opal Tower on Monday afternoon following reports residents of the building had heard cracking sounds. Source: SBS
"That's the right thing to do. We don't want to gloss over this. We've got to get right to the bottom of it, find out what the errors are, and then work out the flow-on effect to where that might impact in this building or other buildings like it."
He said he feels the location of the building in the prestigious Sydney Olympic Park precinct will ensure that the property prices will recover if there is any hit.
"Once it's all fixed up, though, I think everything will be back into a serious and sustainable way.
"The Sydney Olympic Park Authority is a body that gets very much involved in this. They're involved in the land ownership and things like this across the whole site. So they will also want to get confidence back into the system.
"It's very important for the whole industry that this is sorted out very quickly. It looks to me as though it's a single problem, not a systemic problem. But we have to be 100% sure that that is the case."
