Taxpayers to foot the bill to rebuild Lowanna St public housing complex

The ACT government has been forced to demolish and rebuild 10 public housing units in Braddon's Lowanna Street, which were only built in 2012.

The building has sat empty for five years after tenants were vacated as it was deemed unsafe due to fire safety and construction concerns.

In that time, the government engaged in a dispute resolution process with the builder, building engineer and asset certifiers.

The government agreed to payouts totalling $570,000 from the engineer and certifier but was paid nothing by the builder.

Bellerive Homes built the units, but the company went into liquidation in February last year.

The settlement did not take place until late last year.

Part of the three-year legal standoff was related to the building's fire rating, with the government and builder at odds as to what the rating should be certified at.

The former managing director of Bellerive Homes Adre de Waal has previously told The Canberra Times, the building was built to a Type B fire rating, which is normally given to two-storey buildings.

Mr de Waal was contacted, but declined to comment further.

An expert report from 2017 found the building met Type A criteria as the garage counted as a storey and it was therefore three levels.

Multiple reports completed for the ACT government in 2016 and 2017 found several issues with the fire safety of the building.

The first report, from May 2016, found defects which "need to be rectified for the building to meet minimum standards".

Issues included walls which only reached a 60 minute fire rating, not the 90 minutes required, plumbing and electrical services not properly fire-treated and unit doors which failed to meet the standard.

The report stated problems with walls between units and front doors were urgent matters that "expose the building occupants to a fairly high level of risk".

Another report from December 2017 found further defects based on the Type B rating, citing issues with steel beams, brickwork and trusses which weren't correctly fire treated.

Read more:

Housing ACT would not comment on the legal battle but a government spokeswoman confirmed the cost of the settlement.

"Through mediation, the asset certifiers of the development were required to pay $525,000 to the ACT government and the building engineer was required to pay $45,000 to the ACT government," she said.

"Proceedings with Bellerive Pty Ltd were unable to be completed with the party becoming insolvent prior to any settlement or agreement being reached."

The spokeswoman refused to say how much it would cost to demolish and rebuild the complex, saying it was "commercial in confidence" as there was an ongoing tender process.

A development application will be submitted soon.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: