Dozens of prominent Sydney buildings have been identified as having combustible cladding, with some requiring full cladding removal.

Documents released to Greens MP David Shoebridge under the Government Information (Public Access) Act (GIPA) have revealed there are 11 buildings which will require full cladding replacement and a further 31 that will require partial cladding replacement, according to Sydney Morning Herald.

The documents reveal a register of hundreds of ‘at-risk’ buildings which have never been assessed due to disagreements over who should be responsible for these assessments and how they should be undertaken.

“This is failed regulation by a government that refuses to take meaningful action,” says Shoebridge.

“They have just handed the whole mess to local councils without providing any new resources or powers to fix it.

“In the City of Sydney alone, there is a list of more than 340 properties that are at potential risk from flammable cladding – but the Coalition Government is doing nothing about it. A number of these buildings are prominent public buildings including childcare centres, student housing, shopping centres and sporting facilities – this goes well beyond private apartments and the public safety risk is obvious.

“Councils are in an impossible position of being given lists with dozens or hundreds of at-risk properties, with no details about the nature of the risk and no resources to undertake the analysis themselves. We need to immediately revisit the regulations and either require owners to properly assess and address the risk or give councils fresh powers and resources to do it for them.”

At this point it has not been revealed which buildings will require full cladding replacement, however it has been specified that some of the buildings requiring partial replacement include:

The Star Casino
The ABC’s Ultimo Centre headquarters
Building 130 at The Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS)
The Pullman Hotel at Hyde Park

A significant number of ‘at-risk’ buildings have been identified at the University of Sydney’s Camperdown campus, including:

University of Sydney Business School
University of Sydney Abercrombie Student Housing
University of Sydney Codrington Building
University of Sydney Eastern Avenue Auditorium Complex
University of Sydney Boundary Lane Children’s Centre
University of Sydney Oval 2 Grandstand
University of Sydney Sydney Nanoscience Hub
University of Sydney Brain and Mind Centre
University of Sydney Social Sciences Building
University of Sydney Administration Building
University of Sydney Gordon Yu-Hoi Chiu Building
University of Sydney Noel Martin Sports & Aquatic Centre
University of Sydney Jane Foss Russell Building
University of Sydney Life, Earth and Environmental Sciences Building
University of Sydney Holme Building
University of Sydney New Law Annex
University of Sydney New Law Building
University of Sydney Charles Perkins Center

Other at-risk Sydney buildings include:

Central Park Shopping Centre / Apartment Tower
Central Park Development including East Tower, Park Lane, 9 Kensington Street and 15 Kensington Street
Macquarie Bank Building, Barangaroo (1 Shelley Street)
201 Elizabeth Street
Victoria Tower (197 -199 Castlereagh Street)
Golden Century Restaurant (393 Sussex Street)
Queen Victoria Building
The Galeries
The Strand
The Castlereagh (209 Castlereagh St)

Pictured: Sydney's Queen Victoria Building. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Architecture News & Editorial Desk

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