The stop work order issued for the Wonder Apartments in Wollongong mentions nothing about structural issues.
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This runs counter to what NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler said immediately after inspecting the site on Tuesday.
Read more: Sick of getting home at 'stupid o'clock'
In town for a two-day blitz of residential construction sites, Mr Chandler said the situation regarding safety was "as bad as we've seen anywhere in NSW".
That comment reportedly got several construction firms hot under the collar.
... the only issue mentioned in the stop work order is insufficient fire suppression facilities.
Much of the commissioner's ire was directed at the Wonder Apartments on Young Street, being built by WG Projects Group.
"There are significant structural issues," Mr Chandler said last week before issuing a stop work order.
"I don't know what they are but when I look at the building there are cracks, it's got propping. It's got reinforcement being added to other columns to make the column stronger."
However, the four-page stop work order issued on Thursday by Fair Trading's Director Building, Construction and Compliance Matt Whitton, makes no mention of any of these faults.
In fact, the only issue mentioned in the stop work order is insufficient fire suppression facilities.
With the building constructed to six levels, Fair Trading deemed the site lacked sufficient extinguishers and fire hydrant.
"I consider that there are no suitable means of firefighting installed in the building allowing for an initial fire attack by construction workers and for the fire brigade to undertake attack on the fire," the stop work notice said.
The construction manager said there were fire extinguishers placed on every floor, but Mr Whitton felt they were "not sufficient".
Nowhere in the stop work order is any directive to repair cracking, incorrectly reinforced columns or any other building fault - it solely deals with fire safety.
The Mercury understands that the fault has already been rectified.
When the Mercury asked Fair Trading to explain why none of the complaints alleged by Mr Chandler actually appeared in the stop work order and whether there were actually any structural issues at all, the department declined to respond.
All the department said was that it had issued a stop work order to the developer.
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
