In the wake of the Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal’s (VCAT) ruling last week that those parties who consulted to builder LU Simon on Melbourne’s Lacrosse Building were responsible for the combustible cladding that caused a potentially fatal fire in 2014, Geoff Hanmer – Adjunct Lecturer in Architecture at UNSW – has warned that legal costs pertaining to the estimated 1,000 buildings with flammable cladding could top $1 billion, with taxpayers also potentially on the hook. From The Conversation:
[The Lacrosse] decision has taken over four years to emerge. It may yet be the subject of an appeal. In the meantime, owners and residents have had to live in a building that is not safe, although work to replace the cladding should be complete by May.
