Flammable cladding will be stripped from Central Coast apartment buildings under the State Government’s Project Remediate. Though the NSW opposition wants more action to help affected apartment owners.
A breakdown of buildings to be remediated has not been released for safety reasons but a Government spokesperson confirmed some buildings on the Coast would be included under the program.
The Project Remediate website says owners will have been contacted by the local council, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment or the NSW Cladding Taskforce if their building has been identified by government.
If you believe that your building has this type of cladding and it has not been identified by authorities or been assessed by a qualified professional, you should: contact the consent authority for your building to discuss the status of your building; refer to any fire safety assessment reports that may have been obtained for your building; and consider having an authorised representative of the owners corporation register your interest in Project Remediate.
If you are a tenant, contact your building owner as they will have been informed about whether the building has potentially combustible cladding.
The building owner will also know the status of the building assessment if this has been completed.
The first cladding to be removed for investigation under the new program came off a Darlington apartment block in Sydney on October 26.
Minister for Better Regulation, Kevin Anderson, said the start of the investigation work was a huge step forward for the program, which was on track to remove all flammable cladding from the state’s eligible high-risk residential apartment buildings by the end of 2023.
“This is an incredibly important moment for the families and residents living in apartments impacted by dangerous cladding,” Anderson said.
“Today is the start of a critical program that has been years in the making.
“So much careful work has been done behind the scenes to reach this point, and we are now ready to fix a problem that has been burdening owners for a long time.”
Project Remediate will provide no-interest loans, free expert program management, and the assurance that when remediation work is completed, the work will be accepted by insurers.
The program will also create 3,440 new jobs in NSW.
“The NSW Government launched Project Remediate in March and since then has put in the work to recruit the right team, including appointing top experts in the field to oversee the work, and to date we have more than 155 buildings registered for remediation,” Anderson said.
“A project of this magnitude is all about strong foundations and momentum and we have plenty of both, but it is not too late for eligible buildings to be a part of Project Remediate.
“I encourage owners corporations still considering Project Remediate to register their interest as soon as possible, so that work can commence.”
NSW Building Commissioner, David Chandler, said the program had been set up with a consistent approach to assure owners their interests were considered as the highest priority.
“Cladding removal and building remediation is not just about taking off a piece of cladding and replacing it with another,” Chandler said.
“It’s an opportunity to get a thorough up-front investigation and assessment of the building to determine what is needed to do the job properly.
“Project Remediate Managing Contractor, Hansen Yuncken, will investigate the materials gathered during the assessment process and Global Façade Consultant ACOR will give expert engineering and design advice on the best remediation solution for each building.”
The plan has drawn criticism from Shadow Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation, Courtney Houssos, who slammed the government’s slow response to an issue which has been in the public spotlight since the UK Grenfell Tower fire claimed 72 lives in June 2017.
“Instead of providing financial support to apartment owners to remove the dangerous flammable cladding, the NSW Government has only offered 10-year, interest free loans,” Houssos said.
“Apartment owners need more support to remove dangerous flammable cladding from their buildings, not more debt.”
For more information or to register for Project Remediate, visit nsw.gov.au/project-remediate.
Source:
Media releases, Oct 26
NSW Government and
State Opposition