Opal Tower at Olympic Park - Residential Tower Evacuation

And if you can't keep up the mortgage and the bank forecloses, it is then in the dire situation of having a property (and perhaps lots more in the same building) whose value doesn't match its loan book.

 

There are a few for sale in that building. One “deposit taken”. I wonder if the buyer will be able to backtrack if they know/found out about these issues.

 

If the bank sells cheaply, wow you have an argument about them bit selling floor market value?

 

So how much would they sell for ? How low would they go .?

I assume there would be some cash buyers who would be happy to get out with what ever they could ...

Maybe an opportunity in there somewhere ???

Cliff

 

Think of it this way . Make a ridiculous offer , maybe 50 % or less .

Offer gets accepted and it turns out that structurally sound and it was just cladding that cracked . Building cleared , cladding fixed by builder and you’ve got a bargain .

Turns out to be structural and building demolished . You join the class action and after a protracted battle you get your money back .

I’m sure there would be other senario’s .

I’m not doing it , but I always like to bounce ideas around ...

Cliff

 

Or building could just stay as is and slowly fail over next 10 years. With properties losing their values rapidly.

Also strata will be awesomely high with insurance premiums going up and sinking fund sinking.

 

sydney olympic park opal - Google Search

Some of the comments are hilarious.. Maybe in bad taste

 

Is this right? I just always assumed HOW applied to all new builds?

 

Anything over 3 storeys is exempt (the developer is required to stump up 2% of cost to cover the warranty issues IIRC).

 

Out of curiosity, I drove past the Opal tower building today. Nothing seems out of place externally on the facades. Just external barriers placed on the streets leading up to the building with lollipop men diverting traffic. As one member commented, public memory is short lived and this will be swept under the carpet very soon perhaps.

 

Just read that some people will be kicked out of their hotels on nye for obvious reasons

So these poor people might be homeless for 2 nights if they cant find anything else.

I guess if you go further out enough you'll find a motel that has spare rooms.

I assume getting the money back from builders/developers for hotel costs would be another challange

 

I believe most damage is internally. The internal structural wall that collapsed caused internal walls to move I believe but there I did see a photo of some balcony or sunroom damage. Photos from various news websites:

 

Residents are being compensated by Icon between $220 a night for a one-bedroom apartment and $500 for a four-bedroom.

They are also being provided $100 a day for lunch and dinner per person, and for places where breakfast is not included, $120.

 

This looks like an AAC panel (not designed to be loadbearing but due to a failure, changing the load path). The panel appears to be spalling in compression.

The vertical line would appear to be a joint between two panels not a crack.

 

Some people have said in the news they have yet to be reimbursed though.

 

It’s been a handful of days, it is is Christmas and bank transfers can take a few days. I think there needs to be some realistic expectations when it comes to being able to actual transfer reimbursements. I doubt they will sit out the front with wads of cash to hand out blindly.
From what I’ve seen, the crack is neither the developers fault or the builders fault and they have taken all practical measures to assist what is a ****** situation for everyone.... both tenants and themselves...

 

That leaves the designers, engineers, certifier & strata manager on the hook.

These buildings are designed for certain load criteria (residential usage), who knows whether any occupant decided that and home office would be great and installed a 750 kg safe, 2t compactus or just piled up all of their filing cabinets or possessions into a point loading?

Finding the component which failed is the first step, the analysis of the cause is much more difficult. It'll become more interesting If it comes down to overloading of the slab/s as there'll be liability issues on the occupants (not covered by LL or strata insurance).

 

These pictures don't look too bad. Seems like just one prefab wall failed for a reason or another. Doesn't seem structural. I am not an expert by any means but seems to me like the developer is being cautious, kudos to them.

 

That's a non-loadbearing wall and precisely why it's a problem.