Strata & Community Living Autumn 2019
2019 Autumn Edition
What it takes to win an award
Good communications creates great communities
How the Opal Tower disaster may bring change
Cladding Update
SCA (NSW) Strata Owners Day
What it takes to win an award
Each year outstanding contributors to the NSW strata sector are recognised at the SCA (NSW) Strata Community Awards across several award categories. One of the award categories recognises a strata scheme that is working to reduce their impact on the environment.
The winner of the 2018 Strata Community Environmental & Engagement award went to strata scheme ‘Generation W’, which was once a commercial store house that has been retrofitted and now embraces the principles of re-use, sustainability and community.
Good communications creates great communities
City Futures Research Centre is part of the University of NSW. Their report “Governing the Compact City: the role and effectiveness of strata management” found that “good communications between managing agents, executive committees and owners are essential for the good governance and management of strata schemes.
Communication was an important reason for both satisfaction and dissatisfaction with managing agents and executive committees.
How the Opal Tower disaster may bring change
The NSW Government released its final report into the issues surrounding the Opal Tower building failure.
Matthew Kean MP, Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation acknowledged that, “Despite the regulations that already exist to protect homeowners, there is growing evidence that some building practitioners continue to do the wrong thing.”
The recent report found that a number of structural design and construction issues, including non-compliance with national codes and standards were responsible for the observed damage at Opal Tower.
Recommendations include the creation of a new Building Structure Review Board to establish and publish the facts relating to major structural damage of buildings arising from structural design and construction, to investigate their causes and to recommend regulatory changes as needed.
The NSW Government’s full response to the Shergold Weir Report is available on the Fair Trading website. https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/resource-library/reports/nsw-government-response-to-the-shergold-weir-building-confidence-report
Cladding Update
New laws require building owners to register certain buildings with combustible cladding with the NSW Government.
Registration and identification of these buildings helps Fire and Rescue NSW to respond accordingly in the case of a fire and educate occupants about additional fire prevention steps that can be taken. It also helps councils to decide whether any assessment or rectification actions are necessary.
SCA (NSW) Strata Owners Day
Save the Date – Saturday, 22 June 2019
Strata Owners Day offers strata owners and those interested in buying into strata, opportunities for education about strata matters, to receive updates and to have their queries answered by strata professionals.
