Nothing wrong with high rise but Sydney's new apartments are the ugliest in the developed world. Issues include poor quality exterior aesthetics, lack of parking, no signage in complexes, useless internal courtyards, poor aesthetics, purple brick that gets quickly 'eroded' by rain, restrictive height limits. Did I mention poor aesthetics?
@@mshara1 totally agree, in Australia the attitude to apartments is: fit as many as you can in the footprint you have, build as cheaply as possible, they're only for renters anyway
@@dielfonelletab8711 Nothing to do with capitalism but any excuse to bring it up right? China is communist and has so so many more construction issues as well as dehumanising OH&S laws that result in so many deaths.
It's not just Australia - this sort of issue has been cropping up all around the world - from the US to Japan - issues with high rise buildings sinking, cracking, leaning, etc. That's without even getting into the issues in China... I don't think it is an issue with construction codes per se, actually Australian building regulations are among the best, but someone, somewhere, is cutting corners and not doing things properly. Whether its the foundations not being set deep enough, sometimes not even as deep as the plans called for, or other shortcuts being taken by a contractor somewhere, eventually issues occur as a result.
This is a classic example of the marriage of government and big business. It is a marriage that breeds corruption. Abolish the building bureaucracy and make the builders fully responsible for the quality of their buildings. Abolish limited liability laws.
@@grimgoreironhide9985 We really need to hold the government accountable as well. NSW liberal government has fucked us over royally. Take Mike Baird's children for this crime.
We bought a housing commission house here in Brisbane back in 1976 for $44,500. My brother came over from Canada last year and marveled at how strongly it was built. He said they don't build them like this any more. Back in the day when regulations were followed I guess. Can't believe you have to pay a million for a shoddy unit these days.
I was working on housing commission last year, they are well built to top standards. Much better built than the appartments built for non government. Probably because they don't care about budget.
We recently had a housing commission unit block go up next door and they still build them to a really high standard. I guess if you're a builder and you get that contract, it's quite lucrative and one you want to keep. That and the client isn't going to quibble about costs, which I suspect is what it really comes down to.
Ron Mortimer that is what happen when the high rising building can be built within 6 months , was shocked to see they laid huge walls instead of brick laying.
The developers should be held accountable. Building defects caused by incorrectly engineered developments should not be subject to warranty timeframes.
In my country, Brazil, there is a legal situation in which the company owners patrimony could be included in case of costumer's law breaching. In this sense, that work much better as the builders couldn't dodge the suits saying that the company doesn't exist anymore or it is insolvent.
Greedy developers and builders as well as poor engineering. I’ve seen the plans for some of these buildings. Cheap and nasty for the highest price possible. Post tension slabs with thin concrete using unskilled labour. People should be held to account and go to jail.
We had 80 story condos that had sheets of glass falling off the balconies onto the sidewalk and street below here in downtown Toronto in Canada, They build these shitboxes as fast as they can everywhere then on to the next one what do ya expect lol
There was a high-rise recently in Japan, where the contractor just didn't bother to make the foundation pillars as deep as they should have been, and then falsified the testing. Pure corruption, and they pocketed the cost difference, until the building began to collapse, and of course the truth came out!
It’s obvious - the answer is further deregulation for increased and quicker profits for the rich. There’s something about the rich, they’re just that little bit better than the rest of us and deserve to have unfettered access to our money with no fear of reprisal, legal or otherwise.
There have been 1000s of these "Big Box" housing developments put up all over the U.S. and they already falling apart. Many of these buildings are 5 and 6 story using wooden framing which is prone to dry rot. In the San Francisco Bay Area, balconies have broken off several of these sloppily designed buildings. I suspect these buildings were put up with poor design and there may be 100s of others waiting to fall.
Reminds me of the leaky condos we had in vancouver b.c during the 90s here in canada. As usual politicians don't care unless somebody mentions litigation and going after the city.
@@Crazy--Clown Actually I think most of the western world,canada,australia,u.k,germany,france,etc...etc...,has become naive over the last 40 years,based on my memories over that time,in that we have WRONGFULLY trusted politicians and haven't held them accountable for what decisions they make nearly to the degree we should have probably because our lives are so "go go make money to pay the bills"now that we don't have enough time in our days to pay attention to what they are doing unless it's REALLY bad. I mean do we blindly trust the average person walking down the street? No of course not and it is from that group of people that we vote politicians into power. The only western country that has proven resistant to this mentality is the u.s who's populous is known for holding their leaders to account more then us........probably because they can be arrogant a**holes. :P
Here are some reasons for these "death traps" being constructed: 1. Poor workmanship as a result of cutting costs by developers seeking to unfairly profit. 2. Extremely poor regulation around building, construction standards and strata management. 3. Little to no oversight and 2nd level checking by council and regulators. 4. Heavy dependence on private certifiers who are conflicted to pass the result by those who pay them. 5. Local councils are filled with property related corruption. E.g. Salim Mehajir and Auburn Council. 6. The over reliance on stamp duty and building related fees and charges as revenue sources by the state governments. What's the fix? Vote One Asian.
The easy fix would be to regulate builders to insure their projects for 10 years against defects and that the ten year policy has to be in place before any sale can take place. The insurance companies will very quickly weed out the shonks. It would also stop builders avoiding responsibility through the use of shelf companies with a new one for each project. Can anyone imagine owning a unit in one of these tower blocks?
I think it's already 7 years so another 3 years isn't going to change things much. I think the problem is not putting the effort in to creating quality tradesmen/women, they're rushed through their apprenticeship and signed off early and a taught that a quick job is a good job and quality suffers, also quality tradies leaving because of more and more bureaucratic bullshit.
@@kenbrand2123 exsactly dude they usually get there collage paid for and there first job is a lot for them i started day labor minimum wage @ 18 denver co
So far all we've seen are some cracks in non load bearing brick walls and what looks like failed render. All buildings move a bit and if there really is something serious internally wrong then it didn't just start falling apart now. Why haven't we seen more evidence like some pictures, any pictures from the residents? Sure falling bricks are dangerous but they aren't structural. This second building is beginning to look like sensationalism by the media.
And in melb, vic state government refuses to release the full list of apartment buildings with flammable cladding...can anyone explain how this is legal?
The issue is not about compliance its about accountability. I think make developers accountable by default if ruled by court that compensation is due for the residents. Only then let the developers recoup their loss between themselves. Yes, there is a bigger picture at play but someone must be accountable and it should be the ones who sold them the units.
@@happyskippy I had not heard of this building flaw in the US. Some years ago, the Sears Tower in Chicago was having windows fall out, due to the wind. The issue went away quickly. Then on 9-11 building 7 collapsed at free fall speed, when no plane ever hit it. This is the only time in recent memory a building can do that. Conveniently, enron records were housed there, and shocking- no duplicate records existed... thru out history fires have hit buildings that housed records... however in the past 30 years it has been easy to keep a spare set-off site
Cracks are developed because of 1) Faulty Structural Design 2) Low quality materials use 3) Low Standards Construction method and Poor Supervision . 4) Earth / Soil load bearing capacity.
Years ago , even governments started to request tenders for structural engineering work and nobody wanted to pay for proper on site inspections , so the cheapest price wins . Apprentices in the building business have not been on any governments agenda , state or federal , so the lack of mature very experienced construction managers has been evident for years . I have had to deal with young project managers with building degrees who have virtually nil experience on a construction site . And then there are the developers who create a new company for each project and wind it up when its finished .
The question is how a potential owner can know beforehand? Just don’t buy any apartment? Invest in something else, leave the apartment market all together since there is no way to tell what is good and not? Everything can be glossed on the prospectus. The marketer always says good thing about it. Yet problem in quality, problem in regulatory compliance, construction timeline, etc since the industry seems to be plague with dishonesty. that’s from conception to build. The building management also not that good post built, inability to balance between managing business operation and duty of care of the wellbeing of the occupants, we can see no standards of service. Again how tenant can know all this before even making application to rent a property? All can only be known post-trauma, not a prevention. There is no means to anticipate and improve. An ecosystem without built in feedback loops.
Monero XMR, the same sort of people who buy low quality shit boxes in any town, on any block of land all over the country...the ones who need homes, the ones who want to make an investment and those who see potential where the ignorant do not...
Working on a new high rise in Newcastle recently, all fire dampers were not installed but was asked to sign off on their completion. Refusing to do so, the scaffolding was removed before the installed vents could be removed and checked. Complaining to the project manager about my concerns of the fatalities that could arise upon any fire within, an inspection resulted in the company responsible going out of business. Many new high rises put residents, investors at risk and with many still having aluminium cladding on them that was responsible for many deaths in Britian, this government is failing us all.
@@twohorse123 they can be Australian too, bonds left Australia during the gfc, because they did, I don't buy bonds. Bonds were Australian made and owned. You don't need to be a foreigner to be an arsehole Your jedi Virtue signalling leftist bullshit won't work on me
Very superficial report. Why was there no interview with reps of Institute of Engineers, Institute of Architects, state government regulators, local council, building owner, etc etc. Who’s holding them accountable? Very disappointing.
Not a big fan of reporter 2:39 . "And now I'm homeless- "How much was the apartment" She changed the subject too quickly cutting him off. Not very respectful.
So you think Australia the people lving here are respectfull, guess you dont get out in society much to see all the absolute trash thaf disrespects on a daily basis .
Wait for all the waterproofing problems to start showing up, going to be plenty of repairs required. Showers and balconies will be leaking to the unit beneath
The building is only 12 years old!! Wow!! Cracks on such new buildings? There are buildings in NYC that are 50 years old and still stand strong, no evacuations or nonsense. WTF, Sydney???
There are buildings in Hobart that are more than 100 years old with few to no problems (internals have been upgraded and modernized). The oldest bridge in Australia stands in Richmond Tasmania. Seems the convicts where better engineers than today's builders and designers.
And there is another 100,000 coming on the market in the next year. Over supplied, over leveraged buyers and the credit squeeze from lenders could see prices comedown 50-70% for units/apartments peak to trough. North Ryde is down 31% in 1 year and we’ve still got low unemployment.
They want to make Sydney like New York with high rise apartments but it is not going to work because New York is main financial hub for world trade ,Sydney is not .
yes ,but Sydney accounts for half of GDP of Australia in terms of real estate economy and main financial center for the Asian market. And you can thank bland Australian education system producing bland skilled professions ,LOL no ones speak proper English any more.
@@universalmigrator stop blaming the developers that are medium business owner the not the rich . Regulations and taxes in Australia chew up your profits why wages stagnant 30 yrs lefties
@@coopsnz1 you're kidding right, maybe in rural towns. The only thing eroding their profits in the cities are their purchases of expensive houses and Porsches while they build crap on the fringes for the rest of us to live in, even then just claim it as a tax deduction for work purposes right? If you're a developer in the city and you're not making that kind of money you're probably one of the few doing the right thing and playing by the rules. Agree with your earlier comment that there must be some corruption in the government as well but who is slipping the money under the table in the first place?
@@universalmigrator my parents were civil Contruction owners 35 yrs , government took 7 milion.from.10 milion.profit.. if you have noticed small and medium business owners struggling in.australia since goverment grew under bob Hawke 80s . Labor Hated by middle class 30yrs and this includes small.busimess owners . But it's all lies from left saying devolpers are corporations when the not not even dealership owners are a consumers still low ball them I'm sick of anti business arseholes in this country trying to ripoff business owners . The past electons show voters have had enough of labor in this country federally
ABC News, can you please provide what you actually mentioned in the title; Why? Well, the answer we all know is cutting corners and trying to build as much as fast as possible to gobble as much profit as possible. These cracks appear because probably a proper soil investigation didn't take place (which of course costs lots of money) and cheap materials were used in the building structure. Another segment (probably more useful) could be what can we do so this doesn't happen again? Thank you.
I live in a German built solid brick wall house, with a roof structure made of Pomeranian pine and clad with slates from the Hartz mountains. It was built in 1898. Apart from a small amount of timber replacement where it has withstood the weather for 120 years there have been no problems . Greetings from southern Denmark.
Most houses in Australia have first settlers standards. I mean who uses timber for framework? Not to mention terrible insulation, no double glazing, poor heating... All Australians should be send overseas to developed countries to see how houses are build.
Mascot/Greens Square/Zetland area is the current epitome of overdevelopment, like Rhodes but it reached top much faster. Too many buildings too little basic infrastructure development.
How'd you know that!? Nah, I know about warranty manipulation on cars already, and so do car manufactures do, as I've seen some US Honda (Sacramento, CA) dealerships go on a full lifetime warranty.
The residents of Mascot Towers should be given back 10 times what they paid to buy their units in this block by the building's owner himself and the insurance companies should be FORCED to pay out on the policies on pain of jail terms of not less than 30 years for their CEO's if they fail to comply.
For the same reason RBMK reactors had control rods with graphite tips and no containment buildings. Cost cutting and corner cutting is not limited to Australia.
@@teamtoken Why not? If you feel we are so superior, how the hell are new apartment blocks structurally failing? This is an absolute disgrace. Australia has a long history as being at the forefront of construction. Being someone that grew up and worked in the building industry in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, I know exactly how strong and long lasting structures can be. There are tower complexes in the world that are terribly old that were engineered infinitely better. Have a look at the buildings in Japan that survived the earthquake that triggered the tsunami a few years ago. There is no excuse in a first world nation for buildings as new as these to fail the way they do. They are not particularly tall, they do not have to be engineered for severe weather or earthquakes. They are not meeting a basic minimum standard because of people who don't need more money further maximising profits. Granted, they need to make money. That is why they build these in the first place but there is zero need for it to come at the cost of safety for the residents.
@@teamtoken And as for your opinion of crumbling Soviet Russia, the buildings in Pripyat have had zero maintenance since the accident at Chernobyl in 1986. They are still structurally sound. Maybe Australian building companies could learn something from them.
wtf are you babbling on about? i live in sydney and i know first hand the shit that goes on here. from crappy asbestos polluted chinese building materials to unions associated with organised crime and everything in between
When I lived in Australia in 2006, I noticed the quality of the building was substandard compared to U.S. standards. If Australia had American building standards in place, things like the cracks wouldn't happen.
I've been a civil QC inspector and QA Manager in public infrastructure (bridges, roads, railways, tunnels) in WA and my projects we built properly. Supervisor builds it with the work crew and overseen by the site engineer, QC then supervises earthworks tests, does rebar and formwork inspections and usually with a Client/Government QC rep. doing audit inspections - no concrete ordered before inspection passed and concrete checked for compliance to specification. For the most part the construction personnel do their best and big mistakes picked up by QC were rare. But, I have heard stories from workers that have been involved in commercial highrise, especially continuous slipform - misaligned form shutters touching the rebar giving zero concrete cover then afterward trowel a smear of mortar over the top to hide the rebar - I don't know how common this was but it should not happen anywhere, let alone on a tall building.
Cylinders are cast from the delivered concrete straight out of the truck. Only if these cast test cylinders fail their compressive strength test would you consider cutting core samples. If the sneaky developer specifies "N" (normal) grade concrete they can get away without any site test samples as N grades are tested and certified by the concrete supplier, and generally only tested every 100m3 produced. N-grades themselves are fine, what you don't know is what gets added after the truck leaves the plant - It gets stuck in traffic, starts to set and get too thick to pump it up when it arrives on site, easiest thing is to dose it with more water to thin it down - 10 years later concrete cancer starts from the microcracks and the rebar starts to rust.
@@amraceway I can't speak for highrise buildings, but on public infrastructure developments (bridges, tunnels, ports) the designer always specifies "S" (Special) grade where a mix design must be developed, tested and approved by the client before the job starts, and testing is always done at point of delivery every 20 to 40 m3 - batches that are out of spec are usually rejected. All people should have confidence in Australian bridges and roads. For private developments like apartments I have not been involved with so can't guess how deep the problem goes. Money is the issue, governments will pay what is required for quality, private has tighter budgets and mistakes easily hurt the budget so future cost cutting is not surprising.
It seems to me that a lot of people buy apartments and don't know what they are getting in to, particularly with newer constructions. They assume shiny and new means it must be good to go. And it should be, but it is more than likely not the case. I read somewhere recently that 80% of these strata properties built since 2000 have defects. You can't even get insurance to cover structural damage for these properties.
@@justinm2697 Yeah, but its not fair to blame the end-consumer. The problem lays with corporate regulation. Not to mention, rampant NIMBY-ism, that prevents a sane discussion about regulations. Its either no new buildings or a brown paper-bag free-for-all.
@@mshara1 I'm not blaming the end consumer. I'm just pointing out that people don't do their research. They will look at ratings and reviews for a washing machine they want to buy, or a hotel they want to stay at, even a film they want to see. Why aren't they employing the same diligence to property? Would you buy a new car if it couldn't be insured? Then why a property? Everyone suffers from a degree of NIMBY-ism but I'm not sure how that is applicable here.
The real problem is not a lack of regulations, its the lack of any "sheriff" who makes sure that designers and builders do things according to those regulations. Those that are supposed to do that in my town (Melbourne) are all in their offices doing bureaucratic "busyness".
I don't know about victoria, but this is about NSW, and in NSW the liberal government is responsible for this. They've been loosening regulations and creating loopholes that allow corporations to bypass safety checks.
During the Townsville Floods of Feb 2019 my rented apartment was not flooded but due to a building defect the carpet soaked up water from the amount of rain. The Real Estate were notified promptly and we were told to "Leave the fan on, shut the door and do not go in there". 8 days later the an Inspector came and we were emailed a notice at 4PM that day stating we had 24 hours to leave the apartment. We were in shock but did what we could and removed all our possessions aside from anything in the contaminated room by 7AM saturday morning and locked the key inside as we left. They then proceeded to take 90% of the Bond for the skip bin and removal of the 'bio hazard' material that was the contents of the room that was destroyed PLUS which they later denied they wanted a bond clean done.. in 24 hours. RTA mediated the whole thing. *Where are our rights?*
Buildings all over the world are becoming shabby. I see buildings that are going up in a few months. 7 floors high made out of mostly wood with cinder block stairwells. The bricks and stone are plastic and plaster fakes, Poor isolation (you can hear everything)... Buildings like apartment blocks, hotels and hospitals used to be made of metal and concrete and were supervised from start to finish. Now they are slapping crap up all over the place. Yet, the price for one of these 90 square meter death traps just keeps increasing. Just a matter of time before it happens again and the world is shocked...again.
Construction quality is one thing, but movement is another. Looks like the foundations are settling or moving from one cause or another. Are there any earthquakes there (including fracking caused)? Do the underground trains cause much vibration at the structure?
As people start to shift from regular accommodation to smaller accommodation to suit their habitability needs, suburban areas are being rezoned for high density buildings to keep a lid on urban sprawl it's happening in my area near my residence where a small piece of land has 5 apartment blocks. Yes building standards have dropped over the years where volume builders focus on quantity rather than quality for example the house that I live in built in 77-88 is of excellent quality with little defects. The difference is that back then residential housing took longer to complete because the use of hardwood timber frames and once erected the builders stopped work for an extended period of time to allow the frame to shrink and settle this prevented excess cracking once the house was completed and to this day it's a very sound house to live in. If you look at today's Residential and apartment complex they are all completed in a very short time span and I always hear from people who have built from new the problems they have experienced this situation is no different only the scale of the problem is bigger.
It's actually a great business model in the current environment, and that's the problem. The developer has been paid and is already building more dodgy high-rises elsewhere.
In Japan they still get a priest in to bless and purify the site before work commences, complete with throwing around salt and offering a bottle of sake and a whole fish to the gods.
Whos responsible? The gov of course for slacking, reducing regulations and allowing this sort of problems go on for the sake of $$$ in their pockets. The residents should launch a class action against the gov
Yeah at least your house has stood the test of time. These apartments won't last a few years and are probably 10 times the price in todays monetary value.
They built an apartment within government guidelines and it survived within the government mandated warranty. The company has done nothing wrong. If you don't like it, change the law
No they don't. The building survived the warranty and was built within the government mandated legislation. If you don't like the law then go change it. The company doesn't have to pay for a thing
Australia is 9th in the world in terms of the amount of skyscrapers being built. Now, when you take into account our population etc, we are booming, a little too fast and we cut corners.
May May I guess you could say that... Atlas Shrugged.🥁 Get it? Because libertarians think that regulations aren't necessary? Huh? [crickets] I'll show myself out.
@@redlightmax wrong! People believed the government was regulating properly! If you were not fooled into that complacency you would be very careful what you bought and how it was certified!
Interesting cladding on the building. Lets hope its not the stuff that burns very easily! I wonder how many residents are insured for fire but not for structural issues?
Thats exactly why these buildimgs are popping.up here. This shit happened years ago overseas think 10 20 years but Australia hasnt updated the laws to follow suit with every other nation. and its because big money talks to the pollies more than the plebs at the bottom.
Some very simple solutions: -Gopro footage of the building under construction uploaded to NSW gov building code repository. -All workers are registered and named as working on every particular building. Every building has names attached to it. -Buildings are guaranteed by developers for 40 years as being defect free. -Site manager is onsite during construction and is accountable to government office. PLus: Rezoning a lot more of Sydney for medium density will take the pressure off rapid, and as it turns out, low quality, high density construction to meet demand.
When you have construction companies under threat of penalties for running overtime on projects, there will be faults inadvertently (or otherwise) overlooked that could potentially lead to something more horrifying than forced eviction and plummeting property values.
Should check out wollicreek, Alexandria, liverpool, parramatta blacktown and apartments at penrith station. The buildings have erected so fast its crazy and the concrete between the levels of the apartments are so damn thin it looks dangerous.
Quality of apartments need at least four check points. Check points first on design stage, verify the site is free from toxic material, etc Second is before put in cement, verify that the design by calculations the design is strong enough. Third checkpoint is after putting in cements, verify correct high strength cement is used, verify the correct amounts of cements used.....does it fill up the walls, etc Fourth points of checking is final stage. Just points of checking in final stage is dangerous for the whole buildings.. No one can do to guarantee the quality of the apartments by checking in final stage.. The warranty period should be ten years. Plus any apartments has structural issue should file the cases in fair trading department or similar department. The developer have liability to resolve, strata body corporation cannot have decision to let the developer go away.. The strata cannot represent whole owners of the development. Keep records of all builders personally files and kick out bad conduct one. Property values is over one life saving.. Also building dangerous apartments is killing citizens life's.. Collapse of building is loss of hundred of life. Construction of a building is not baking a pizza..
The problem with warranty of any product is that the manufacturer is going to to make sure the product will pass the warranty period . In electronics for example the quality easily passes the warranty period in most cases but develops problems a few years after that. For buildings having a warranty period of say 7 years is going to be a problem when a building is expected to last for many decades. The solution to make the warranty period correspond with the expected life of the product. You would think that the government with the amount of taxes they are charging ( especially land tax and stamp duty) would have adequate building standards and protections for the consumer.
Also , not to be rude but I fear that the anchor woman's (@6:41) makeup artist accidentally used bronzer or quite possibly contour powder as blush? Either way it is too dark and comes across harshly on camera.
not a big deal, that building would be there for another 200 years even without repairs, safety is over the top as per usual, a few crack would cause a collapse.
I live in an apartment in Adelaide UNO APARTMENTS we were informed last year that the outside cladding is the same cladding as the london fires I kept the letter and now when the fire alarm goes off I drop everything and run down the fire escape I dont dawdle on getting out but a lot of others dont because it goes off all the time the building is 5 years old
AND No Doubt poor Mr Dos Santos will be up for a hefty power bill because he left the lights on and forgot to read the fine print on his energy contract!!
She asks him how much he spent. He replies almost a million. Then she replies “do you regret buying it now”. That was a stupid ass question! No one in their rite mind would be fine with the situation!
This is the 'double whammy'. A death knell for Australian property. For decades, lawyers, real estate agents, and accountants have ZERO obligations to report ANY financial dealing that may be money laundering, criminal transactions, fraudulent, or in any part unlawful/illegal. The more you know huh? These, and many, many other faults will come to light in the not too distant future, with many, many more good hardworking Australians being put out on the street AFTER paying around the million dollar mark for a nice place to live, or so it seemed. Still paying the bill...and homeless... The alleged 'builders' are looooong gone with their money. The land on which they are built with a 'defected' property is now worth a considerable amount less than originally bought for, and will subsequently be snavelled up by yet another money launderer. Make no mistake, the alleged 'government' of this country is completely aware of these illicit dealings. The perpetraters are their 'party' donors. The donors dictate the law. Prove. Me. Wrong.
There are TWO ISSUES here!! One is the condition of the building, and the second is how the situation has been handled. Buildings already constructed to sub par standards cant be fixed overnight, but the complete shambles of how it's been handled - ie. including residents retrieving their property and vehicles etc. could be fixed very quickly and make future similar events much less traumatic for residents.
you deregulate big business, you're going to keep getting problems like this. Corporations will always cut corners, no matter the safety or ethnical implications, if they can squeeze profit out of it.
As a tradie I can tell you that builders don’t give a stuff about quality or a good job. If it meets the spec and looks the same but is half the price, that’s what goes in. I work on these sites and I see what happens daily. There is absolutely no way that I would live in one of these time bombs!
Buying a $17K New KIA, you got 7 years unlimited KM warranty. Buying a $650K new Apartment in NSW, you get 6years(2+4) warranty. That‘s the LAW.😢 Is it fair?
The seller obviously also got conned or they are con man? Who was the architect? Where did he study and who got the contract for building? I bet most of them run under wrong certification in the mean time? This happens now in Switzerland as well, just not to such an extend yet.
Me and my wife live as sub-tenants in south side of Sydney (6 storey building) and things keep breaking up like leakage, door handles, nuts and doors but local councils do not care it seems.
Greedy developers. Slack Politicians. Lack of proper oversight by our government authorities tasked with same. Shame all round 😢
Thanked to Liberal government who accelerated endless apartment building all over Sydney and beyond , that's their economic fame only.
a lot of people won't like this but that's the way it is under capitalism. profits > everything else
Nothing wrong with high rise but Sydney's new apartments are the ugliest in the developed world. Issues include poor quality exterior aesthetics, lack of parking, no signage in complexes, useless internal courtyards, poor aesthetics, purple brick that gets quickly 'eroded' by rain, restrictive height limits. Did I mention poor aesthetics?
@@mshara1 totally agree, in Australia the attitude to apartments is: fit as many as you can in the footprint you have, build as cheaply as possible, they're only for renters anyway
@@dielfonelletab8711 Nothing to do with capitalism but any excuse to bring it up right? China is communist and has so so many more construction issues as well as dehumanising OH&S laws that result in so many deaths.
Because the standards for construction in Australia have become a joke
It's not just Australia - this sort of issue has been cropping up all around the world - from the US to Japan - issues with high rise buildings sinking, cracking, leaning, etc. That's without even getting into the issues in China...
I don't think it is an issue with construction codes per se, actually Australian building regulations are among the best, but someone, somewhere, is cutting corners and not doing things properly. Whether its the foundations not being set deep enough, sometimes not even as deep as the plans called for, or other shortcuts being taken by a contractor somewhere, eventually issues occur as a result.
@@calebfuller4713 Moreover, most builders in Australia are Lebanese and Iraqis.
compare to Europe they have always been a joke.
It's because Chinese developers, they bring in the lowest quality and build like they do in China. Everyone in the building world knows it's china.
China owns all the new buildings, are you people asleep
This is a classic example of the marriage of government and big business. It is a marriage that breeds corruption. Abolish the building bureaucracy and make the builders fully responsible for the quality of their buildings. Abolish limited liability laws.
The Sumerians had a simple law for builders. If the house you built kills your clients son then your own son is sentenced to death.
@@grimgoreironhide9985 We really need to hold the government accountable as well. NSW liberal government has fucked us over royally. Take Mike Baird's children for this crime.
@@grimgoreironhide9985 as seen on TV.
We don't have limited liability for buildings. There is no liability at all actually. It's one year warranty and you're on your own after that.
@@LoggyWD question - if you buy something at a store, what is the return policy like?
We bought a housing commission house here in Brisbane back in 1976 for $44,500. My brother came over from Canada last year and marveled at how strongly it was built. He said they don't build them like this any more. Back in the day when regulations were followed I guess. Can't believe you have to pay a million for a shoddy unit these days.
I was working on housing commission last year, they are well built to top standards. Much better built than the appartments built for non government. Probably because they don't care about budget.
We recently had a housing commission unit block go up next door and they still build them to a really high standard. I guess if you're a builder and you get that contract, it's quite lucrative and one you want to keep. That and the client isn't going to quibble about costs, which I suspect is what it really comes down to.
Ron Mortimer that is what happen when the high rising building can be built within 6 months , was shocked to see they laid huge walls instead of brick laying.
Well that’s with everything these days from kids toys to buildings they don’t make them how they used to
See what happens when you have self regulation. It is not working.
The developers should be held accountable.
Building defects caused by incorrectly engineered developments should not be subject to warranty timeframes.
Sounds like the FAA
It'd work if the builders were held accountable.
In my country, Brazil, there is a legal situation in which the company owners patrimony could be included in case of costumer's law breaching. In this sense, that work much better as the builders couldn't dodge the suits saying that the company doesn't exist anymore or it is insolvent.
*Dumbass australians will just have another royal commission into this shit spend millions of dollars without no outcome. Happens all the time*
Greedy developers and builders as well as poor engineering.
I’ve seen the plans for some of these buildings. Cheap and nasty for the highest price possible.
Post tension slabs with thin concrete using unskilled labour.
People should be held to account and go to jail.
no, the firing squad ,LOL
We had 80 story condos that had sheets of glass falling off the balconies onto the sidewalk and street below here in downtown Toronto in Canada, They build these shitboxes as fast as they can everywhere then on to the next one what do ya expect lol
There was a high-rise recently in Japan, where the contractor just didn't bother to make the foundation pillars as deep as they should have been, and then falsified the testing. Pure corruption, and they pocketed the cost difference, until the building began to collapse, and of course the truth came out!
@@calebfuller4713 Sounds like prison time !
Caleb Fuller These greedy heartless people should be jail forever.
It’s obvious - the answer is further deregulation for increased and quicker profits for the rich. There’s something about the rich, they’re just that little bit better than the rest of us and deserve to have unfettered access to our money with no fear of reprisal, legal or otherwise.
There have been 1000s of these "Big Box" housing developments put up all over the U.S. and they already falling apart.
Many of these buildings are 5 and 6 story using wooden framing which is prone to dry rot.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, balconies have broken off several of these sloppily designed buildings.
I suspect these buildings were put up with poor design and there may be 100s of others waiting to fall.
Hard hitting question there, do you regret buying your apartment? Top notch journalism!
That guy was too nice to react appropriately. What a tone deaf question.
Reminds me of the leaky condos we had in vancouver b.c during the 90s here in canada.
As usual politicians don't care unless somebody mentions litigation and going after the city.
Crazy Clown .. most of the people living in these apartments are foreigners. U clown
@@Crazy--Clown Actually I think most of the western world,canada,australia,u.k,germany,france,etc...etc...,has become naive over the last 40 years,based on my memories over that time,in that we have WRONGFULLY trusted politicians and haven't held them accountable for what decisions they make nearly to the degree we should have probably because our lives are so "go go make money to pay the bills"now that we don't have enough time in our days to pay attention to what they are doing unless it's REALLY bad.
I mean do we blindly trust the average person walking down the street?
No of course not and it is from that group of people that we vote politicians into power.
The only western country that has proven resistant to this mentality is the u.s who's populous is known for holding their leaders to account more then us........probably because they can be arrogant a**holes. :P
Here are some reasons for these "death traps" being constructed:
1. Poor workmanship as a result of cutting costs by developers seeking to unfairly profit.
2. Extremely poor regulation around building, construction standards and strata management.
3. Little to no oversight and 2nd level checking by council and regulators.
4. Heavy dependence on private certifiers who are conflicted to pass the result by those who pay them.
5. Local councils are filled with property related corruption. E.g. Salim Mehajir and Auburn Council.
6. The over reliance on stamp duty and building related fees and charges as revenue sources by the state governments.
What's the fix? Vote One Asian.
What is One Asian?
I was following you all the way to the end.
Cosmic
I also was following you until the end but then you deviated big time
@@coasteyscoasteys wtf does "vote one asian" mean?
Lol 😂 yeah what’s One Asian
The easy fix would be to regulate builders to insure their projects for 10 years against defects and that the ten year policy has to be in place before any sale can take place. The insurance companies will very quickly weed out the shonks. It would also stop builders avoiding responsibility through the use of shelf companies with a new one for each project. Can anyone imagine owning a unit in one of these tower blocks?
I think it's already 7 years so another 3 years isn't going to change things much. I think the problem is not putting the effort in to creating quality tradesmen/women, they're rushed through their apprenticeship and signed off early and a taught that a quick job is a good job and quality suffers, also quality tradies leaving because of more and more bureaucratic bullshit.
@@kenbrand2123 exsactly dude they usually get there collage paid for and there first job is a lot for them i started day labor minimum wage @ 18 denver co
The building is 12 years old. Your awesome solution didn't solve anything 😂
So far all we've seen are some cracks in non load bearing brick walls and what looks like failed render. All buildings move a bit and if there really is something serious internally wrong then it didn't just start falling apart now. Why haven't we seen more evidence like some pictures, any pictures from the residents? Sure falling bricks are dangerous but they aren't structural. This second building is beginning to look like sensationalism by the media.
@@tbonemc2118 first comment that actually addressed the building at hand. Although, broader issues with modern Sydney apartments exist.
And in melb, vic state government refuses to release the full list of apartment buildings with flammable cladding...can anyone explain how this is legal?
Yeah, even with the "most progressive" premier, they're still beholden to the same corporate developers.
People need to demand the list of dodgy cladding be released, criminal
I blame the government. They let these dodgy builders do whatever they want
Iraqi and Lebanese builders in particular.
@@mattmattsito Fuck off dickhead. Don't have anything better to do than be racist on the internet all day?
They have cuzies in the goverment who help them lol
The issue is not about compliance its about accountability. I think make developers accountable by default if ruled by court that compensation is due for the residents. Only then let the developers recoup their loss between themselves. Yes, there is a bigger picture at play but someone must be accountable and it should be the ones who sold them the units.
I hear that duct tape can fix anything.....
Blue tek or chewing gum also ,LOL
Real man can fix anything with WD-40 and duct tape. (s)
*100 mile per hour tape
Try super glue, it's a lot better than duct tape.
@@happyskippy I had not heard of this building flaw in the US. Some years ago, the Sears Tower in Chicago was having windows fall out, due to the wind. The issue went away quickly. Then on 9-11 building 7 collapsed at free fall speed, when no plane ever hit it. This is the only time in recent memory a building can do that. Conveniently, enron records were housed there, and shocking- no duplicate records existed... thru out history fires have hit buildings that housed records... however in the past 30 years it has been easy to keep a spare set-off site
Cracks are developed because of
1) Faulty Structural Design
2) Low quality materials use
3) Low Standards Construction method and Poor Supervision .
4) Earth / Soil load bearing capacity.
And built to a cheap price at all costs. They know that its possible to get away with this stuff scott free here in australia and they dont care.
#3
This guy,
This guy has the best answer in the comments section. Imo
Years ago , even governments started to request tenders for structural engineering work and nobody wanted to pay for proper on site inspections , so the cheapest price wins . Apprentices in the building business have not been on any governments agenda , state or federal , so the lack of mature very experienced construction managers has been evident for years . I have had to deal with young project managers with building degrees who have virtually nil experience on a construction site . And then there are the developers who create a new company for each project and wind it up when its finished .
Differential settling due to instability of the ground. But they don't say much... they just say cracks have appeared. Nothing has failed luckily
Look at the developers, always the same kind of people
indian i bet
Tuan Anh Pham immigrants
its the same with homes. we moved into a less then 5 year old house and the walls are already creaking. everything is done cheap
Who would buy one of these low quality shitboxes?
people that trusted the government would do their job.... haha trusting the government to not be self serving is a recipe for disaster
The question is how a potential owner can know beforehand? Just don’t buy any apartment? Invest in something else, leave the apartment market all together since there is no way to tell what is good and not? Everything can be glossed on the prospectus. The marketer always says good thing about it. Yet problem in quality, problem in regulatory compliance, construction timeline, etc since the industry seems to be plague with dishonesty. that’s from conception to build. The building management also not that good post built, inability to balance between managing business operation and duty of care of the wellbeing of the occupants, we can see no standards of service. Again how tenant can know all this before even making application to rent a property? All can only be known post-trauma, not a prevention. There is no means to anticipate and improve. An ecosystem without built in feedback loops.
@krz sim faj sam houses with farms and animals and by the lake cost a lot less than these trust me, people need to consider moving to regional areas
Monero XMR, the same sort of people who buy low quality shit boxes in any town, on any block of land all over the country...the ones who need homes, the ones who want to make an investment and those who see potential where the ignorant do not...
Working on a new high rise in Newcastle recently, all fire dampers were not installed but was asked to sign off on their completion.
Refusing to do so, the scaffolding was removed before the installed vents could be removed and checked.
Complaining to the project manager about my concerns of the fatalities that could arise upon any fire within, an inspection resulted in the company responsible going out of business.
Many new high rises put residents, investors at risk and with many still having aluminium cladding on them that was responsible for many deaths in Britian, this government is failing us all.
I bet the developers have already left Australia without paying tax either
Thank the Lieberals for this one
Before after or during the ABCC?
Yeah! blame the foreigner.
@@twohorse123 they can be Australian too, bonds left Australia during the gfc, because they did, I don't buy bonds. Bonds were Australian made and owned. You don't need to be a foreigner to be an arsehole
Your jedi Virtue signalling leftist bullshit won't work on me
@@twohorse123 the person who saw race in my statement is the one with the race problem
I don't usually support the death penalty...
Very superficial report. Why was there no interview with reps of Institute of Engineers, Institute of Architects, state government regulators, local council, building owner, etc etc. Who’s holding them accountable? Very disappointing.
Not a big fan of reporter 2:39 .
"And now I'm homeless-
"How much was the apartment"
She changed the subject too quickly cutting him off. Not very respectful.
Jane Smith - she white that’s what they do.
So you think Australia the people lving here are respectfull, guess you dont get out in society much to see all the absolute trash thaf disrespects on a daily basis .
Wait for all the waterproofing problems to start showing up, going to be plenty of repairs required. Showers and balconies will be leaking to the unit beneath
The building is only 12 years old!! Wow!! Cracks on such new buildings?
There are buildings in NYC that are 50 years old and still stand strong, no evacuations or nonsense. WTF, Sydney???
There are buildings in Hobart that are more than 100 years old with few to no problems (internals have been upgraded and modernized). The oldest bridge in Australia stands in Richmond Tasmania. Seems the convicts where better engineers than today's builders and designers.
Italians are building in NYC not lebbos 😂😂😂
And there is another 100,000 coming on the market in the next year.
Over supplied, over leveraged buyers and the credit squeeze from lenders could see prices comedown 50-70% for units/apartments peak to trough.
North Ryde is down 31% in 1 year and we’ve still got low unemployment.
@Anthony Brown North Ryde was severely overpriced, there was no reason for it to jump up so high
They want to make Sydney like New York with high rise apartments but it is not going to work because New York is main financial hub for world trade ,Sydney is not .
yes ,but Sydney accounts for half of GDP of Australia in terms of real estate economy and main financial center for the Asian market. And you can thank bland Australian education system producing bland skilled professions ,LOL no ones speak proper English any more.
Corrupt developers should be hung for cutting corners to receive a bigger profit.
Government corrupt 30 yrs , government take more from.business not less
Never are, they keep getting awarded more contracts and approved for more development.
@@universalmigrator stop blaming the developers that are medium business owner the not the rich . Regulations and taxes in Australia chew up your profits why wages stagnant 30 yrs lefties
@@coopsnz1 you're kidding right, maybe in rural towns. The only thing eroding their profits in the cities are their purchases of expensive houses and Porsches while they build crap on the fringes for the rest of us to live in, even then just claim it as a tax deduction for work purposes right? If you're a developer in the city and you're not making that kind of money you're probably one of the few doing the right thing and playing by the rules. Agree with your earlier comment that there must be some corruption in the government as well but who is slipping the money under the table in the first place?
@@universalmigrator my parents were civil Contruction owners 35 yrs , government took 7 milion.from.10 milion.profit.. if you have noticed small and medium business owners struggling in.australia since goverment grew under bob Hawke 80s . Labor
Hated by middle class 30yrs and this includes small.busimess owners . But it's all lies from left saying devolpers are corporations when the not not even dealership owners are a consumers still low ball them I'm sick of anti business arseholes in this country trying to ripoff business owners . The past electons show voters have had enough of labor in this country federally
ABC News, can you please provide what you actually mentioned in the title; Why?
Well, the answer we all know is cutting corners and trying to build as much as fast as possible to gobble as much profit as possible. These cracks appear because probably a proper soil investigation didn't take place (which of course costs lots of money) and cheap materials were used in the building structure.
Another segment (probably more useful) could be what can we do so this doesn't happen again?
Thank you.
I am soil technician and I certainly agree with you mate.
what can we do so this doesn't happen again? stop voting in the liberal government
I live in a German built solid brick wall house, with a roof structure made of Pomeranian pine and clad with slates from the Hartz mountains. It was built in 1898. Apart from a small amount of timber replacement where it has withstood the weather for 120 years there have been no problems . Greetings from southern Denmark.
@hannecatton2179, your house/home was designed and built by your fellow European's who have the Intellect. Simple
Most houses in Australia have first settlers standards. I mean who uses timber for framework? Not to mention terrible insulation, no double glazing, poor heating... All Australians should be send overseas to developed countries to see how houses are build.
Mascot/Greens Square/Zetland area is the current epitome of overdevelopment, like Rhodes but it reached top much faster. Too many buildings too little basic infrastructure development.
Just like buying a used car just out of warranty,programmed to break down when it's expired.
How'd you know that!? Nah, I know about warranty manipulation on cars already, and so do car manufactures do, as I've seen some US Honda (Sacramento, CA) dealerships go on a full lifetime warranty.
Prob something wrong with your building code
Thailand builds better buildings. And they have to build on mud
Look at the photo and put down the crack.
expertvagabond.com/abandoned-skyscraper-bangkok/
The residents of Mascot Towers should be given back 10 times what they paid to buy their units in this block by the building's owner himself and the insurance companies should be FORCED to pay out on the policies on pain of jail terms of not less than 30 years for their CEO's if they fail to comply.
"Do you regret buying it now?" Excellent journalism
"No, its turning out to be a great investment..."
For the same reason RBMK reactors had control rods with graphite tips and no containment buildings.
Cost cutting and corner cutting is not limited to Australia.
Daniel Beard Crumbling soviet russia isn’t really the best benchmark
@@teamtoken Why not? If you feel we are so superior, how the hell are new apartment blocks structurally failing?
This is an absolute disgrace. Australia has a long history as being at the forefront of construction. Being someone that grew up and worked in the building industry in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, I know exactly how strong and long lasting structures can be. There are tower complexes in the world that are terribly old that were engineered infinitely better. Have a look at the buildings in Japan that survived the earthquake that triggered the tsunami a few years ago.
There is no excuse in a first world nation for buildings as new as these to fail the way they do. They are not particularly tall, they do not have to be engineered for severe weather or earthquakes.
They are not meeting a basic minimum standard because of people who don't need more money further maximising profits.
Granted, they need to make money. That is why they build these in the first place but there is zero need for it to come at the cost of safety for the residents.
@@teamtoken And as for your opinion of crumbling Soviet Russia, the buildings in Pripyat have had zero maintenance since the accident at Chernobyl in 1986. They are still structurally sound. Maybe Australian building companies could learn something from them.
I didn’t know they made estate houses as buildings
Gvernment should be held accountable a lot of dealing under table
The milder weather also allows builders to get away with more cost cutting measures than they’d be able to in colder parts of the world
wtf are you babbling on about? i live in sydney and i know first hand the shit that goes on here. from crappy asbestos polluted chinese building materials to unions associated with organised crime and everything in between
Time to start stacking shipping containers.
Jolly
Good idea
When I lived in Australia in 2006, I noticed the quality of the building was substandard compared to U.S. standards. If Australia had American building standards in place, things like the cracks wouldn't happen.
Er....Miami?
Building owners or managers should face a court for their lack of communication and responsibility to the apartment dwellers.
Blame the legal system - Everything you say can be taken down and used against you in a court of law. The very system encourages you to say nothing.
Building owners? What are you talking about. The people living there bought them.
I've been a civil QC inspector and QA Manager in public infrastructure (bridges, roads, railways, tunnels) in WA and my projects we built properly. Supervisor builds it with the work crew and overseen by the site engineer, QC then supervises earthworks tests, does rebar and formwork inspections and usually with a Client/Government QC rep. doing audit inspections - no concrete ordered before inspection passed and concrete checked for compliance to specification. For the most part the construction personnel do their best and big mistakes picked up by QC were rare. But, I have heard stories from workers that have been involved in commercial highrise, especially continuous slipform - misaligned form shutters touching the rebar giving zero concrete cover then afterward trowel a smear of mortar over the top to hide the rebar - I don't know how common this was but it should not happen anywhere, let alone on a tall building.
Are core samples taken and tested for the concrete used in high rise developments?
Cylinders are cast from the delivered concrete straight out of the truck. Only if these cast test cylinders fail their compressive strength test would you consider cutting core samples. If the sneaky developer specifies "N" (normal) grade concrete they can get away without any site test samples as N grades are tested and certified by the concrete supplier, and generally only tested every 100m3 produced. N-grades themselves are fine, what you don't know is what gets added after the truck leaves the plant - It gets stuck in traffic, starts to set and get too thick to pump it up when it arrives on site, easiest thing is to dose it with more water to thin it down - 10 years later concrete cancer starts from the microcracks and the rebar starts to rust.
Thanks for your very informative reply. I wonder how many N grade footings, etc are out there?
@@amraceway I can't speak for highrise buildings, but on public infrastructure developments (bridges, tunnels, ports) the designer always specifies "S" (Special) grade where a mix design must be developed, tested and approved by the client before the job starts, and testing is always done at point of delivery every 20 to 40 m3 - batches that are out of spec are usually rejected. All people should have confidence in Australian bridges and roads. For private developments like apartments I have not been involved with so can't guess how deep the problem goes. Money is the issue, governments will pay what is required for quality, private has tighter budgets and mistakes easily hurt the budget so future cost cutting is not surprising.
"The Mascot Towers, designed by architect Krikis Tayler and developed by John Elias"
Writing Board
Elias
With both those people putting in ZERO time in construction labour
It seems to me that a lot of people buy apartments and don't know what they are getting in to, particularly with newer constructions. They assume shiny and new means it must be good to go. And it should be, but it is more than likely not the case.
I read somewhere recently that 80% of these strata properties built since 2000 have defects. You can't even get insurance to cover structural damage for these properties.
Consumer culture mate, if its shiny and new then it must be perfect.
@@le13dan I know, right? Panels of glass, stainless steel fixtures, polished floors and a fresh coat of paint is all they see.
@@justinm2697 Yeah, but its not fair to blame the end-consumer. The problem lays with corporate regulation. Not to mention, rampant NIMBY-ism, that prevents a sane discussion about regulations. Its either no new buildings or a brown paper-bag free-for-all.
@@mshara1 I'm not blaming the end consumer. I'm just pointing out that people don't do their research. They will look at ratings and reviews for a washing machine they want to buy, or a hotel they want to stay at, even a film they want to see. Why aren't they employing the same diligence to property?
Would you buy a new car if it couldn't be insured? Then why a property?
Everyone suffers from a degree of NIMBY-ism but I'm not sure how that is applicable here.
@@justinm2697 such a poor and uneducated opinion/analogy at the topic at hand.
The real problem is not a lack of regulations, its the lack of any "sheriff" who makes sure that designers and builders do things according to those regulations. Those that are supposed to do that in my town (Melbourne) are all in their offices doing bureaucratic "busyness".
I don't know about victoria, but this is about NSW, and in NSW the liberal government is responsible for this. They've been loosening regulations and creating loopholes that allow corporations to bypass safety checks.
During the Townsville Floods of Feb 2019 my rented apartment was not flooded but due to a building defect the carpet soaked up water from the amount of rain. The Real Estate were notified promptly and we were told to "Leave the fan on, shut the door and do not go in there". 8 days later the an Inspector came and we were emailed a notice at 4PM that day stating we had 24 hours to leave the apartment. We were in shock but did what we could and removed all our possessions aside from anything in the contaminated room by 7AM saturday morning and locked the key inside as we left. They then proceeded to take 90% of the Bond for the skip bin and removal of the 'bio hazard' material that was the contents of the room that was destroyed PLUS which they later denied they wanted a bond clean done.. in 24 hours. RTA mediated the whole thing. *Where are our rights?*
Sonik
What was the biohazard?
@@coasteyscoasteys It was the mold that had overtaken everything in the room.
Buildings all over the world are becoming shabby. I see buildings that are going up in a few months. 7 floors high made out of mostly wood with cinder block stairwells. The bricks and stone are plastic and plaster fakes, Poor isolation (you can hear everything)... Buildings like apartment blocks, hotels and hospitals used to be made of metal and concrete and were supervised from start to finish. Now they are slapping crap up all over the place. Yet, the price for one of these 90 square meter death traps just keeps increasing. Just a matter of time before it happens again and the world is shocked...again.
Construction quality is one thing, but movement is another. Looks like the foundations are settling or moving from one cause or another. Are there any earthquakes there (including fracking caused)? Do the underground trains cause much vibration at the structure?
As people start to shift from regular accommodation to smaller accommodation to suit their habitability needs, suburban areas are being rezoned for high density buildings to keep a lid on urban sprawl it's happening in my area near my residence where a small piece of land has 5 apartment blocks. Yes building standards have dropped over the years where volume builders focus on quantity rather than quality for example the house that I live in built in 77-88 is of excellent quality with little defects.
The difference is that back then residential housing took longer to complete because the use of hardwood timber frames and once erected the builders stopped work for an extended period of time to allow the frame to shrink and settle this prevented excess cracking once the house was completed and to this day it's a very sound house to live in.
If you look at today's Residential and apartment complex they are all completed in a very short time span and I always hear from people who have built from new the problems they have experienced this situation is no different only the scale of the problem is bigger.
This is bad karma. The govt should intervene and crack down on scam constructors.
Placing my bet before I watch: Because they're poorly built and the developers are cheap and greedy?
The rich owners of these buildings will eventually realise that building with bad materials isn’t a good business model
It's actually a great business model in the current environment, and that's the problem. The developer has been paid and is already building more dodgy high-rises elsewhere.
Any fellow soilies here? What is your opinion? Do you think it has something to do with the ground material?
There not putting enough straw in with the mortar😁
In Japan they still get a priest in to bless and purify the site before work commences, complete with throwing around salt and offering a bottle of sake and a whole fish to the gods.
lol
Good one Hemi. I now have no further questions.
Plus they are using politicians bullshit instead of proper cow dung.
Whos responsible? The gov of course for slacking, reducing regulations and allowing this sort of problems go on for the sake of $$$ in their pockets. The residents should launch a class action against the gov
More reglations since 80s , why business costs are higher left twat
Glad my house is 120 years old. No such concern.
Yeah at least your house has stood the test of time. These apartments won't last a few years and are probably 10 times the price in todays monetary value.
mine was built in 1956 ,still standing =real bricks/wood ,real clay foundation not plastic materials they use for buildings now days.
Construction company needs to pay for it
They built an apartment within government guidelines and it survived within the government mandated warranty. The company has done nothing wrong. If you don't like it, change the law
No they don't. The building survived the warranty and was built within the government mandated legislation. If you don't like the law then go change it. The company doesn't have to pay for a thing
Both of you know nothing about commercial construction.
@@JDMEVOVIGSR yeah I never said I did. Either way it doesn't affect me so I don't give a flying f*** 😂
Australia is 9th in the world in terms of the amount of skyscrapers being built. Now, when you take into account our population etc, we are booming, a little too fast and we cut corners.
What's a skyscraper
@@shazzthedon its an anus prong.
Mascot Square was built by Amara Living Pty Ltd , architecture design by Altas
May May I guess you could say that... Atlas Shrugged.🥁
Get it? Because libertarians think that regulations aren't necessary? Huh?
[crickets]
I'll show myself out.
@@redlightmax wrong! People believed the government was regulating properly! If you were not fooled into that complacency you would be very careful what you bought and how it was certified!
Don't worry people just return apartments to the banks ;)
Interesting cladding on the building. Lets hope its not the stuff that burns very easily! I wonder how many residents are insured for fire but not for structural issues?
Won't work in Australia, the debt is on the people not the property!
Thats exactly why these buildimgs are popping.up here. This shit happened years ago overseas think 10 20 years but Australia hasnt updated the laws to follow suit with every other nation. and its because big money talks to the pollies more than the plebs at the bottom.
Some very simple solutions:
-Gopro footage of the building under construction uploaded to NSW gov building code repository.
-All workers are registered and named as working on every particular building. Every building has names attached to it.
-Buildings are guaranteed by developers for 40 years as being defect free.
-Site manager is onsite during construction and is accountable to government office.
PLus:
Rezoning a lot more of Sydney for medium density will take the pressure off rapid, and as it turns out, low quality, high density construction to meet demand.
When you have construction companies under threat of penalties for running overtime on projects, there will be faults inadvertently (or otherwise) overlooked that could potentially lead to something more horrifying than forced eviction and plummeting property values.
Is uploading to youtube priced per pixel these days?
Exactly my first thoughts haha
Don't waste money on property.
Should check out wollicreek, Alexandria, liverpool, parramatta blacktown and apartments at penrith station. The buildings have erected so fast its crazy and the concrete between the levels of the apartments are so damn thin it looks dangerous.
i didn't notice building standards really drop till late 90's..
Everything in Australia went to shit in the late 90s - Howard's legacy.
Quality of apartments need at least four check points.
Check points first on design stage, verify the site is free from toxic material, etc
Second is before put in cement, verify that the design by calculations the design is strong enough.
Third checkpoint is after putting in cements, verify correct high strength cement is used, verify the correct amounts of cements used.....does it fill up the walls, etc
Fourth points of checking is final stage.
Just points of checking in final stage is dangerous for the whole buildings..
No one can do to guarantee the quality of the apartments by checking in final stage..
The warranty period should be ten years. Plus any apartments has structural issue should file the cases in fair trading department or similar department. The developer have liability to resolve, strata body corporation cannot have decision to let the developer go away.. The strata cannot represent whole owners of the development.
Keep records of all builders personally files and kick out bad conduct one. Property values is over one life saving..
Also building dangerous apartments is killing citizens life's..
Collapse of building is loss of hundred of life.
Construction of a building is not baking a pizza..
Design code need to be reviewed?
The problem with warranty of any product is that the manufacturer is going to to make sure the product will pass the warranty period . In electronics for example the quality easily passes the warranty period in most cases but develops problems a few years after that.
For buildings having a warranty period of say 7 years is going to be a problem when a building is expected to last for many decades.
The solution to make the warranty period correspond with the expected life of the product.
You would think that the government with the amount of taxes they are charging ( especially land tax and stamp duty) would have adequate building standards and protections for the consumer.
Kabab Bros Builders at it again
😂
The Sydney apartment market is crashing. Literally....
Chinese will fix it. They have unlimited supply of money.
a million to live in a small box inside a bigger box, next to another big box,, financial madness
maybe theyre lonely people lol
Rebar placement and concrete quality gonna have alot of punch through effect
Also , not to be rude but I fear that the anchor woman's (@6:41) makeup artist accidentally used bronzer or quite possibly contour powder as blush? Either way it is too dark and comes across harshly on camera.
Grow up. None of your business.
What, who cares? This isn't a makeup tutorial.
not a big deal, that building would be there for another 200 years even without repairs, safety is over the top as per usual, a few crack would cause a collapse.
yet another UN sustainable cities failure , when will we ever learn
I live in an apartment in Adelaide UNO APARTMENTS we were informed last year that the outside cladding is the same cladding as the london fires I kept the letter and now when the fire alarm goes off I drop everything and run down the fire escape I dont dawdle on getting out but a lot of others dont because it goes off all the time the building is 5 years old
AND No Doubt poor Mr Dos Santos will be up for a hefty power bill because he left the lights on and forgot to read the fine print on his energy contract!!
She asks him how much he spent. He replies almost a million. Then she replies “do you regret buying it now”. That was a stupid ass question! No one in their rite mind would be fine with the situation!
This is the 'double whammy'. A death knell for Australian property.
For decades, lawyers, real estate agents, and accountants have ZERO obligations to report ANY financial dealing that may be money laundering, criminal transactions, fraudulent, or in any part unlawful/illegal. The more you know huh?
These, and many, many other faults will come to light in the not too distant future, with many, many more good hardworking Australians being put out on the street AFTER paying around the million dollar mark for a nice place to live, or so it seemed. Still paying the bill...and homeless...
The alleged 'builders' are looooong gone with their money.
The land on which they are built with a 'defected' property is now worth a considerable amount less than originally bought for, and will subsequently be snavelled up by yet another money launderer.
Make no mistake, the alleged 'government' of this country is completely aware of these illicit dealings.
The perpetraters are their 'party' donors. The donors dictate the law.
Prove. Me. Wrong.
Why should they? It conflicts with the interest of their client.
Australia's broken housing bubble!
One word
China.
There are TWO ISSUES here!! One is the condition of the building, and the second is how the situation has been handled. Buildings already constructed to sub par standards cant be fixed overnight, but the complete shambles of how it's been handled - ie. including residents retrieving their property and vehicles etc. could be fixed very quickly and make future similar events much less traumatic for residents.
Should of been done right the first time but all builders and developers are very greedy
The problem is not shoddy tradesmen but bad foundation design. Excessive settlement from train activity under the building likely caused the cracks
you deregulate big business, you're going to keep getting problems like this. Corporations will always cut corners, no matter the safety or ethnical implications, if they can squeeze profit out of it.
So who was the builder?
so.....why are there cracks?
As a tradie I can tell you that builders don’t give a stuff about quality or a good job. If it meets the spec and looks the same but is half the price, that’s what goes in. I work on these sites and I see what happens daily. There is absolutely no way that I would live in one of these time bombs!
Buying a $17K New KIA, you got 7 years unlimited KM warranty. Buying a $650K new Apartment in NSW, you get 6years(2+4) warranty. That‘s the LAW.😢 Is it fair?
The seller obviously also got conned or they are con man? Who was the architect? Where did he study and who got the contract for building? I bet most of them run under wrong certification in the mean time? This happens now in Switzerland as well, just not to such an extend yet.
Couple of tubes of No More Gaps and a coat of paint should do the job 👷🏻♂️
Hey, if it's Selleys, it works, right!
Because greedy people are trying to cash in on the property bubble
While no people's homes are affected the carpark for Westfield Blacktown has been closed for over a year while they repair cracks
I'm here working on it right now
Michael Fowler
And they still charge full parking fees for the inconvenience!
Me and my wife live as sub-tenants in south side of Sydney (6 storey building) and things keep breaking up like leakage, door handles, nuts and doors but local councils do not care it seems.
Maybe its because people don't know what they're doing in building places?
Bankruptcy may turn out to be the best option. The bank loses its money, the owners are free.
drove past opal lastweek there are people still living there.