The builder of the Sydney Opal Tower in Sydney Olympic Park, Icon, told residents in a heated meeting on Dec. 27 that they would have to vacate their homes again for up to 10 days to make way for an investigation of the building.
“The damaged section of the building has now been reinforced as a precautionary measure while a team of engineers carries out the investigation,” the statement said.
Many Not Allowed in Since Christmas
According to local reports, there was a single 6 metre by 3 metre concrete panel on the 10th floor of the building that had cracked. The panel is attached to two reinforced concrete columns that connect to 51 apartments on floors 1 to 36.These 51 apartments have not yet been declared safe, and residents of these apartments have not been let in since Dec. 24, except to go back and collect pertinent items.
One angry resident demanded answers at Icon’s press conference.
“Ten days is just an estimation—so how long should we wait for a final result and can we have some fair treatment?” she asked.
No Guarantees
Director of Icon, Julian Doyle, said he could not guarantee whether the residents would be allowed to return to their homes after the 10 day period.“[Residents] need to leave now so we can investigate all parts of the building unobstructed, as quickly as possible,” he said, according to The Daily Telegraph.
“For us, [it’s about] getting the answer and determining what we need to do to not replicate what happened on level 10 and implement that as quickly as possible.
“The issue is expediency because, if we leave the residents in place, we’ll still be trying to get access to various areas of the building for the next three months.”
The NSW government has appointed two specialist investigators to lead an inquiry into the Opal Tower cracking.
NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts said that professors Mark Hoffman, Dean of Engineering at the University of NSW, and John Carter, Dean of Engineering at the University of Newcastle, will lead the investigation.
Christmas Eve Evacuation
An evacuation alarm was raised around 2.45 p.m. on Dec. 24 when “cracking” was reported on the 10th floor of the building, The cracking had reportedly caused some shifts in the building’s structure.Residents continued to hear cracking sounds on Dec. 24, forcing emergency services to evacuate the tower and neighbouring areas in anticipation that the building might collapse.
More than 3,000 people were evacuated from the 392-apartment building and its surroundings as a one-kilometre exclusion zone was put in place. Around 300 evacuees were residents of the building. They were not allowed back into their homes but were sent to an evacuation centre in central Sydney.
At about 12.30 a.m. on Dec. 25 local time, residents of the units that were declared safe were allowed to return. But 51 units were declared structurally unsafe, according to a police release.
The residents of the 51 units have not been allowed to return home since Dec. 24.
On Dec. 24, Police had to use heavy-duty equipment to break through doors that were jammed to rescue trapped residents. A resident of the building told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he had noticed changes to the doors earlier.
“A few days ago the doors looked different. Like they couldn’t close the doors properly. And you do feel it [movement] sometimes when there’s strong wind,” he said.
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