Tough decision for owners as more defects found in Crownview apartments

This came just two days after Commissioner David Chandler issued a stop-work order for the troubled building due to remediation work being done without the relevant design documents being lodged through the NSW Planning Portal.

"They've just been going ahead and doing the work and not clearing the designs," Mr Chandler said of the stop work order.

"I'm not saying they're doing it without designs, I'm saying they haven't been declaring the designs and I can't see who is responsible for supervising that.

"They're just doing the work because they think the work needs to be done and if they do it industriously that's it. I'm saying 'no, it's going to be done compliantly'."

Mr Chandler had come to Wollongong on Thursday to deliver a talk at a UDIA NSW business lunch.

Before the lunchtime engagement he chose to visit the apartment complex on upper Crown Street and "have a look in the areas where no one's looked before".

The Crownview has been a focus of the Building Commissioner since late in 2022 when a prohibition order was slapped on the site due to "serious" defects.

That prohibition order remains in force and stops the issuing of an occupation certificate - essential for residents to move in - until the building is cleared by Mr Chandler.

People who bought apartments in the complex have been waiting years to move in, with some opting instead to get their deposits refunded and walk away.

On his Thursday morning visit, Mr Chandler said he inspected the bathrooms in four random apartments.

On his way to those apartments, he noted a large number of post-tensioning ducts in the slabs which were full of water. Holes in the slabs will have to be drilled to let the water drain away before filling them with grout.

Mr Chandler ordered several tiles be removed from the bathroom showers and found they had been "stuck to the walls not in accordance with Australian standard" or had the grouting going vertically rather than horizontally, which would see water flow down to the floor level.

A number of glass panels on the balconies did not have Australian standards stickers on them, which meant it may or may not be compliant, and there was also issues with the drainage of water off the balconies.

These latest discoveries had prompted him to arrange a meeting with the project's financiers - something he has done only once before.

"There's $50 million into the build cost [and] allegedly now you've put another $37 million into fixing it," he said.

"I don't know what it's going to cost to get to the end. At the end I still may require a substantial bond that allows me to sleep at night."

He said he empathised with those who had bought into the building and were still waiting to move in.

While they were now eligible for a refund of their deposit, he understood why many had not.

"I know they're also going to be disappointed with the fact that the units have gone up in value and they'll miss out on that bit," he said.

"But you go and ask all the people who are living in buildings with serious defects in them whether they'd rather they got the deposit back or whether they'd rather be paying for the cost of fixing serious defects in the building that they're living in and they'll take their deposit back every time."

Mr Chandler said he could not state when those purchasers would be able to move in.

"My problem is that I can't yet see the circumstance and what is going to be put to me to make me feel confident to lift the prohibition order," he said.

The builder of Crownview was contacted for comment.