Damage to the 10th floor in the Opal Tower. Photo / News Corp Australia
It's happened again.
Hundreds of terrified and fired up residents at Sydney's crumbling Opal Tower have been told they'll spend New Year's Eve without a home after being forced to evacuate their apartments for the second time in four days.
Confused and demanding answers, some of the 300 evacuees descended on a heated press conference yesterday and confronted the builders of their crumbling 36-storey tower — with one resident bleakly telling them that "everyone is scared" for their safety.
One woman crashed the media conference and asked Icon director Julian Doyle how long the investigation process was going to take.
"You ask us to move back now you ask us to evacuate again," she said.
"The accommodation (you provided) is terrible (compared) to our apartments, which we pay for.
"All of us with pets, we have valuable things in our apartments, you ask us to move all the valuable things with us — it's impossible.
"Nobody is responsible for anything, if it goes missing in our apartments, any compensation.
"Nobody has mentioned anything and I'm asking why. How long should we wait for final results and can we have some fair treatment in the end?"
Doyle said they had spoken to residents and apologised for what they were going through.
Guy Templeton, from the engineering support team, said they needed access to the whole building to investigate the issue on level 10.
"Clearly it's paramount the structure is fully sound, which it is, but we need to be able to get access so that specialist engineers can work right through the building," he said.
"Some panels may need to be removed, there may need to be some concrete may require testing."
Resident Desla Daryaei said the incident had taken an emotional toll.
"I've had to pay A$40 just for breakfast at a hotel, I don't have half of my belongings and even my real estate agent didn't know what was happening until he saw the news a few days ago," she told The Daily Telegraph. "Of course I'm scared, everyone is scared."
Residents have been told to leave for a second time in four days so a thorough investigation can start.
The "comprehensive investigation" will look at the crack on the 10th floor of building in Olympic Park.
In a statement released before the conference, the Icon said all residents were being "being progressively relocated" over the next 24 hours.
They could be locked out of their units for as long as 10 days.
"Icon confirms the building is structurally sound and the temporary relocation is a precautionary measure to allow engineers to work around the clock to investigate and remediate the site in the quickest time possible, without further disruption to residents," a spokeswoman said.
"Accommodation is being secured for all affected residents at nearby hotels and compensation will also be provided by Icon."
They said residents were being briefed by Icon at a meeting today at the local community centre.
"The damaged section of the building has now been reinforced as a precautionary measure while a team of engineers carries out the investigation," the spokeswoman said.
"The thorough investigation is being led by global engineering firm WSP, with assistance from senior engineers from Kajima Corporation, one of Japan's largest construction companies and majority owner of Icon."
Two specialist investigators have been appointed by the NSW government to lead an inquiry into what went wrong at Opal Tower.
Minister for Planning and Housing Anthony Roberts said two professors of engineering would lead an investigation into the cause of the failure and report on immediate steps to be taken to ensure the safety of the building for residents.
The report, which will be made public once complete, will also include recommendations on how to avoid similar incidents in the future.
"I've been in contact with the developer and the builder in the last 24 hours and have stressed to them my expectation that these residents are looked after," Roberts said.