Face of Nation : Engineers are waiting for council documents on Sydney’s evacuated Mascot Towers building, but the local mayor insists there’s no cover-up.
Bayside mayor Bill Saravinovski said a formal request for the paperwork was made last Thursday, a week after the building was evacuated over structural concerns.
The paperwork may help engineers pinpoint the cause of the 10-year-old building’s issues – cracking in its primary support structure and facade masonry – which sparked the evacuation on June 14.
Since then, residents of its 132 units have been forced to stay elsewhere, with costs quickly adding up as authorities scramble to determine who is at fault.
Mr Saravinovski insisted “there’s no cover-up by Bayside City Council” and strongly denied allegations it was withholding any documents.
“Whatever documents we have on file will be made available,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
The building’s engineers have requested documents dating back to 2004 including detailed structural plans for Mascot Towers, and geo-technical and hydraulic reports.
Without the documents, engineers are unable to stall the building’s deterioration or work out what the issue is, a spokesperson for the owners corporation told AAP in a statement.
Mr Saravinovski said the retrieval of the documents has been “challenging” due to their age and hard-copy format.
Mr Saravinovski couldn’t guarantee engineers would have the documents – which are stored in an off-site archive on the central coast – by the end of Tuesday, six days after they were requested.
“My understanding is that we received a request last Thursday and we’re onto it. Even if I have to get the general manager to drive up there to the central coast. Even I will drive up there.”
It comes after residents and owners of the units were told part of the building appeared to be “moving in a downward motion”.
“It appears that the building is moving in a downward motion,” the latest update to owners issued on Monday night said, without elaborating.
A spokesman for the owners’ corporation on Tuesday said describing it as “sinking” was inaccurate.
“There has been some differential settlement resulting in the currently observed building movements, at least in part,” he said in a statement.
“But any interpretation of the building sinking at present is considered to be alarmist. The building engineers are continuing their investigation and monitoring.”
Differential settlement happens when a building’s support foundation settles in an uneven fashion – sometimes causing structural damage.
Minister for Better Regulation Kevin Anderson said the latest update was “distressing” for residents and has requested an urgent briefing.
“Time for talk is over,” he told reporters in Tamworth.
“We’re very keen to get reforms in place to look at accountability, transparency and the quality of building. We’re moving on getting a building commissioner appointed who will be able to make sure that we don’t find ourselves in this situation again.”
