An independent consultant has found that two incomplete Corrimal mansions, owned by a company linked to disgraced Wollongong developer Frank Vellar, do not comply with Australian building standards.The houses on Glenlea St have been the subject of several council investigations after it emerged they may have been constructed on an area of the escarpment not permitted for dwellings.The site is owned by Vic Vellar Nominees, a family company of which Frank Vellar is one of three directors.
Council throws out Frank Vellar subdivision Mr Vellar was named in unrelated Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) hearings involving Wollongong City Council and ICAC found he had engaged in "serious corrupt conduct".The Corrimal site was not the subject of any ICAC hearings and Mr Vellar only became a director of Vic Vellar Nominees in 1998 - four years after Wollongong City Council approved the two disputed dwellings. Wollongong City Council has received two reports commissioned earlier this year in response to residents' concerns about the impact of the houses if they are allowed to remain. A structural report by GHD found the footings on the two dwellings did not comply with either the Australian Standard which applied now or when the development was approved in 1993.On the northern house, settlement of the footings had contributed to substantial cracking in the exterior walls, including cracks up to 15mm wide. However, consultants recommended the footings be retained, saying it would be "extremely difficult" to rectify the issue without causing additional damage to the house. The slab, walls and stairs all complied with relevant building standards.However, the consultants said timber wall frames and roof trusses on the southern dwelling were rotting in places after being exposed to weather because of missing roof tiles.Both houses have been extensively vandalised since construction ceased.The second report, a geotechnical report by Douglas Partners, found residential development on the site was feasible.Consultant Terry Weatherall, speaking on behalf of the Vellar family, declined to comment on the reports' contents."The council has to determine where to take the matter from there," he said.The council approved the development in 1994, but it later emerged the houses had been built on part of the site not permitted for dwellings.The zoning was retrospectively changed to allow the dwellings to stay. But after a review, the land was returned to its original conservation zoning. The rezoning is now being considered as part of the draft Wollongong local environmental plan and will go before administrators in July.
