December 27, 2018

Sydney Opal Tower residents evacuated for up to 10 days for crack investigation

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All residents of the brand new Sydney apartment building that developed a crack on Christmas Eve will be re-evacuated for up to 10 days so the construction company can conduct further investigations and repairs.

The news prompted a frustrated response from one resident, who interrupted a press conference on Thursday afternoon to complain about once again having to leave their apartment to be relocated to a hotel.

Opal Tower in Sydney’s Olympic Park was evacuated on Monday night after a crack developed in a load-bearing concrete panel and the building shifted 2mm – causing plaster to crack and doors to stick in their frames.

On Tuesday the building was declared safe to live in by its developer, Ecove, and residents of two-thirds of the tower were told they could return to their apartments.

On Boxing Day Ecove’s director hit back at “sensational” reports, declaring that Opal Tower was a “high-quality” building and that the company that built the tower, Icon Constructions, was “a well-established, high-quality builder”.

But on Thursday afternoon Icon announced all residents would now be relocated from the building so the entire site could be investigated and repaired.

All residents would be moved within 24 hours and the work could take up to 10 days, a spokeswoman said.

But the company stressed that the building was still structurally sound and no residents were in danger.

“The temporary relocation is a precautionary measure to allow engineers to work around the clock to investigate and remediate the site in the quickest time possible,” a statement said.

At a press conference held at the foot of the building, Icon’s managing director, Nick Brown, rejected the claim that the building “will never be safe”.

Guy Templeton, an engineer from firm WSP who are providing support to Icon, said the structure was sound.

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