Supreme Court finds construction giant was uninsured and unlicenced when building Harry Seidler’s Horizon tower.

Residents of the Harry Seidler-designed Sydney skyscraper, The Horizon, are refusing to give up the fight over building defects despite the NSW Supreme Court having ruled their insurance claim invalid. The owners’ corporation is now considering action against the builder, Grocon.

The Victorian building company was breaking the law for 12 months by working in NSW without a licence, which also means it was uninsured, the court found.

Justice McDougall found that Grocon was unlicensed from the commencement of building work on The Horizon until 17 April, 1997 and, therefore, the work was not insured under the government scheme.

Dubbed The Horror Zone, the Seidler skyscraper suffers from “seriously negligent construction”, Richard Gration, a barrister and owners’ corporation member, told Architecture & Design.

Most of the defects relate to leaking shower membranes, with many of the showers having no membranes at all, Gration said.

The residents were denied an insurance claim because they failed to notify the insurer within six months of becoming aware of potential problems. Instead, the group first sought legal advice and tried to solve matters directly with Grocon. When this failed the residents filed the claim and have now missed out on an insurance payout of up to $2.5 million.

The residents are also considering suing legal firm Holding Redlick for failing to tell them about the six-month lead time.

“It’s bad government policy,” Gration said. “It’s a very unfair provision of the law that a scheme that’s intended to protect owners of homes and apartments really shouldn’t have that very onerous six month notification requirement.”

The Modernist tower in Darlinghurst caused controversy when it was first designed because of the height of the building and the shadowing effects on surrounding buildings.

Gemma Battenbough

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