Residents of a Sydney apartment tower that began cracking on Christmas Eve are preparing to spend at least 10 days away from home while investigations into the structural failure continue.
The Sydney Olympic Park building experienced a concrete panel collapse on Monday which triggered the evacuation of the tower and the surrounding areas.
While most residents were allowed back into Opal Tower within 24 hours on Thursday, Icon - the construction company responsible for the building - called for it to be emptied.
Damaged inside the 'cracked' Opal Tower. Source: The Guardian
About 300 residents are expected to move out of the tower by close of business on Friday and into temporary accommodation in the area.
The building's developer Ecove said residents are also being offered financial support for living expenses while engineers survey the tower.
"We're pushing as hard as everyone else for information on what's happened, and for speedy rectification," the company's director Bassam Aflak said in a statement on Friday.
Engineering firm WSP, one of the investigators being employed by Icon, said the building was structurally sound but residents needed to leave to allow engineers to assess and remediate the site in the quickest time possible.
Residents of Opal Tower which cracked on Christmas Eve won't be allowed home for at least 10 days. Source: AAP
The damaged section of the building on Level 10 has been reinforced as a precautionary measure, WSP said in a statement to residents on Thursday.
Julian Doyle, the NSW director of building company Icon, said the apartment tower was not at risk of collapsing, but the fastest way for the issue to be dealt with was to remove all residents.
"I think ultimately the building will be as it was designed to be," he said on Thursday.
A resident (left) asks questions of Icon Managing Director Julian Doyle at a press conference outside the Opal Tower. Source: AAP
An angry resident confronted Mr Doyle during his Thursday press conference at the base of the tower, demanding better temporary accommodation and a clearer timeline of when they would be allowed back home.
Mr Doyle could not guarantee residents would be able to move back in after 10 days.
