Greenland Australia, the developer of NBH at Lachlan’s Line, the 900-apartment project in Macquarie Park, Sydney, has received a building work rectification order from Building Commission NSW to urgently remediate the structural defects detected in the development.
Located at 23 Halifax Street in Lachlan’s Line in north-west Sydney, the residential development is spread across four blocks with retail on the ground floor and car parking in the basements. According to Greenland, construction was completed in February 2020 by GN Residential Construction.
An inspection carried out in August 2023 by Building Commission NSW detected ‘serious defects’ in the development, described in the report as “serious damage and spalling of the concrete slab at the joint locations in basements and the ground floor caused by defective workmanship”.
According to the report, the defect compromises the structural performance and structural adequacy of the concrete slab, which could “cause inability of the concrete slab to withstand the carpark and ground floor loads”.
Following this, a notice of intention to issue a building work rectification order including a draft copy of the order was served on the developer in October 2023. In the submissions received from Greenland in December 2023, the developer had requested that the department exercise discretion to not issue the order.
In their latest order, the state building commission has set a 14-month timeline for Greenland to execute the rectification works over a 3-stage process, which includes slab scanning in the basements and ground floor (2 months); a report by a consulting engineering firm on the structural adequacy of the joints, and rectification methodology for the concrete spalling (4 months); and remediation works to rectify the serious defect (8 months).
In their response to the building work rectification order, Greenland says it has been fully cooperating with the commission.
According to Greenland, the engineering consultants they engaged to undertake investigations in accordance with the requests of the commission identified that “the issues are localised in the lower car park levels only and that there is no risk of collapse of the building’s towers”.
“Recommendations were made by the external engineering consultants to undertake localised repairs, to ensure the long-term durability and structural integrity of the building’s concrete slabs and joints as identified in the draft order.”
“Greenland, via the project’s building manager and strata managers, has contacted all residential owners and tenants at the project. It can confirm that no evacuations at the project are required,” the statement read.
Image credit: Greenland Australia
