The building construction was privately certified. Under state legislation, private certifiers are responsible for ensuring that building works comply with the approved construction certificate. In this case, the private certifier allowed the building to be completed, despite it being noncompliant with the approved plans in several important respects. Perhaps the most important violations are that the top floor was supposed to be stepped back from the street, and has not been, and that the driveway is steeper than it should have been – possibly dangerously so.
These deviations, and others, were confirmed by a Council audit of the site. In response, the developer applied for retrospective approval, which Council has refused.
In a letter to residents, sighted by the SSH, Lord Mayor Clover Moore wrote that “the City has refused this application and is considering further action, including issuing a Notice of Intention to demolish and to rebuild the building in accordance with the conditions of consent”. The letter further confirms that the City of Sydney has “referred the Private Certifier to the Building Professionals Board for issuing an interim occupation certificate when they should not have and for failing to enforce the conditions of consent”.
Although the private certifier issues an Interim Occupation certificate prior to the Council audit of the site, the City has not issued a Final Occupation certificate and has no current plans to do so.
Local residents were glad that the City has taken action, but were critical that action was not taken earlier, while the building was still under construction. “If the developer gets away with this, it will be a green light for future developers to ignore their own DAs,” said one.
