The cost of rectifying Australia’s high-rise apartment faults continues to soar.
Yesterday, The ABC reported that Construction giant Icon claims it has spent $24 million since the evacuation of its cracked Opal Tower skyscraper, despite putting only $1 million aside as a “provision for defects”:
Financial statements accessed by the ABC reveal Icon — the company that built the tower — was holding just $1.09 million in the fund for its portfolio of buildings across NSW.
However, it has forked out $24 million and counting since the Opal Tower disaster, which happened just months after the building opened its doors…
More than eight months on, 15 owners are still locked out of their apartments as rectification works continue…
The $24 million repair bill is expected to keep growing…
This follows the owners of Mascot Towers being slugged $10 million ($76,000 each) – half the initial building cost of $22 million – to fix faults, payable on a quarterly basis over 15 years. They were also told that it will be at least four months before the building can be re-occupied.
Research commissioned by the construction union has already estimated that Australia’s building and construction crisis will cost $6.2 billion in remediation and associated costs.
However, this is likely understated given the unprecedented boom in high-rise apartment construction over the past decade and that many faults have yet to come to light:
The cost of rectification will be massive and will likely fall on both apartment owners and taxpayers alike, with most developers getting away scot-free.
At list it will be good for GDP [/S]!
