Residents from Mascot Towers have been told a return to the troubled complex is “unlikely” with repaairs set to take at least 12 months.
Mascot Towers unit owners met on Thursday night and were told hopes to return within a month are over. The unit owners have also been warned that remedial works could take between “12 and 18 months” during which they cannot occupy the building.
On Thursday evening, an engineer told residents he doesn’t expect to be able to deliver a full report on the state of the building within the original four-week period. Residents were told hopes of quickly re-occupying the troubled ten-storey building were unlikely.
Owners from the residential tower in Sydney’s inner-south met for the second time after deterioration in the 10-storey building caused an emergency evacuation earlier this month.
“We feel agitated,” one owner told news.com.au. He said delays begin with engineers having to digest data, some of which they still haven’t obtained.
“We just want to go back to our home. We want to get back as soon as possible,” he said.
“We’re still waiting,” said another owner, who before the meeting told news.com.au she was hoping for answers. “No answers. More reports!” she said as she streaked out of the Stamford Plaza in Mascot.
One owner, Fady, told news.com.au lawyers attending the meeting “couldn’t share much” because they’re still “looking at what they’re doing”.
Fady said owners were told they would probably have to move while remedial works were carried out.
“But nothing is concrete, they’re still collecting data,” Fady said.
“We just need to know what’s going to happen,” Fady told news.com.au. “Are we going to stay out of the building for another week? Another month? Another year? That’s the part we don’t know.
Fady currently lives in Zetland in a serviced apartment and said he’s “trying to understand if he needs something long term”.
He said he hasn’t got his belongings from his apartment yet. “I’m awaiting more instruction,” he said.
The focus for engineers is now on the water table, according to Mascot Towers Owners Corp spokesperson Patrick McGuire. He said there will likely be drilling to test the groundwater in the future.
Mr McGuire said there were “rounds of applause” for people driving the investigation. He said after the meeting, which finished just after 9pm, the engineers were returning to work to continue consulting documents. Engineers are still seeking outstanding documents relating to the building, and Mr McGuire said there was slight frustration around this, as the days since the evacuation of the towers near the two week mark.
RELATED: Some of the first photos from inside cracking Mascot Towers
“We just have to stay positive,” apartment owner Fabiano dos Santos told reporters tonight.
“We went to pick up some of the things today and the building is a very sad place,” he said.
A number of unit owners told news.com.au they have so far declined the State Government’s emergency assistance package, as they fear no one will be found accountable for the building’s faults, and they will have to pay it back as an interest-free loan.
These costs will add to already mounting fees they are facing to fix the failing building.
Previous estimates were over $5 million.
RELATED: Mascot Towers ‘moving downward’ according to engineer
Two owners told news.com.au they’d only bought their apartment in recent months, and said they knew of another owner who’d only owned his apartment for six weeks before the evacuation.
News.com.au understands a number of owners are now considering bankruptcy, as there is no established timeline for repairs and the cost of remedial works is unknown.
“A return to building occupancy in the short-term is unlikely at this stage,” a statement from Owners Corp this afternoon said.
RELATED: Mascot Towers cracking: Engineer documents retrieved
As frustrated owners left the heated meeting last week, they vented, saying they felt like they needed more time before voting, and were given few answers over the four-hour period.
The building is now going to be assessed on a “month to month basis,” according to Owners Corp spokesman Patrick McGuire.
He said there is currently no indication on when engineers would finalise their assessment of the troubled building, and stressed that they only received engineering documents detailing the building’s structural history back to 2004 today.
Last week there’d been “some sort of hope” owners could move back into their homes within a month, but this afternoon Mr McGuire said after almost two weeks of monitoring by a team of engineers and the supply of new documents to engineers providing building details, swift re-entry now appears “highly unlikely”.
“It’s a stressful, uncertain time for everybody,” Mr McGuire said, but said residents were receiving assistance and generosity through storage companies and places of accommodation, including Airbnb, and major banking institutions who’ve offered mortgage support.
Mr McGuire said the focus tonight was for owners to hear the latest report from the team of engineers. He said the team monitoring the building would be working right up until the meeting this evening.
An emergency assistance package was announced by the State Government, which will provide funds for residents of the towers for three months. The package, provided as a loan with funds from tenant bonds, will sustain the tenants for three months. Mr McGuire said the state government have been “very helpful”.
While owners last week voted in the overwhelming majority to raise the emergency levy, individuals told news.com.au they heated meeting left them feeling like “didn’t have a choice”.
John Barilaro, Deputy Premier of New South Wales, earlier told Sky News that documents provided to the government indicated that the building was “sinking” and evidence pointed to construction work next door, which had possibly caused a drop in the water tables.
Mr McGuire said the Owner’s Corp had no comment to offer on the building, but in a statement repeated an engineer’s advice that the claims of “sinking” were alarmist.
After two weeks, Bayside Council retrieved documents relating to the building, requested by the building’s engineers. The documents, which will provide engineers with information on the construction of the towers and assist them in finding faults in the building, were only obtained this week, and have stymied the engineer’s ability to properly assist the building.
Bayside Mayor Bill Saravinovski, who previously defended the time taken to get the paperwork, yesterday said the last of the documents sought by the building’s engineers had been retrieved. Mr McGuire said the delay in providing the documents was not an issue to the Owners Corp.
-With AAP
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