The Opal Tower story how it has shaken the building and construction industry Article header image

The Opal Tower story – how it has shaken the building and construction industry

Let’s take a bird’s eye view of what happened at the Opal Tower, what it means for the various players within the building and construction industry and how the NSW government is addressing the issue so far.

Here are two areas to catch you up on the Opal Tower story, what’s happened so far and the NSW Government’s response:

  1. What happened at the Opal Tower
  2. How the NSW Government is addressing the issue

What happened at the Opal Tower:

How the NSW Government is addressing the issue:

To prevent such mishaps in the future, the New South Wales government has authorised several independent agencies to carry out investigations to get to the root of the problem, find the factors that could have caused the damage and identify non-compliant parties.

In response the ‘Building confidence report by Professor Peter Shergold AC and Bronwyn Weir, the government plans to put in certain key measures to regulate the building and construction industry as prescribed in the Building Code of Australia. The compliance status of the builders, developers, inspectors and certifiers involved in the high-rise strata buildings across the state is being scrutinised. Additionally, there are plans to revisit and fortify legislation and building regulations to address gaps in compliance.

What happened in New South Wales could very well have happened in any other state. Here’s an article for Queensland and Victoria property owners to also stay on the front foot with respect to building defects.

If you’d like to find out more on building compliance for your strata property, download your free Community Living guide. Or for a consultation to review your common property insurance by our CommunitySure insurance team, click here.