Council Fire Order | Pacific Park

15/8/2023

Compliance with a Fire Order from North Sydney Council

Dear Unit Owner,

Unfortunately, soon every unit owner will need to pay significantly more than currently is the case over at least the next 2 years, in addition to the usual strata levies. An early estimate is a total shared among all 162-unit owners is $2M but with a wide potential range depending on quotations obtained for each required task that meets the NS Council’s orders.

What’s this for?

This amount is based on a conservative estimate of the cost of upgrade works that the North Sydney Council would force us to carry out, as it has now issued the order that it proposed to issue to us earlier this year. You were advised of this via the agenda material that was sent to you for the strata’s last AGM in January 2023. A copy of the actual order is attached. We have been given 2 years to complete the upgrade works in this order.

Why should I care or pay? I’ve got nothing to do with this.

Such orders are enforceable by law, and the costs to comply with them are recoverable against each unit owner according to their relative proportion of ownership. This is regardless of whether the need to upgrade existed before they bought their unit.
Also, until Council is satisfied that we have fully complied with the order they have issued, any unit owner who plans to sell their unit needs to disclose the existence of this order to prospective purchasers.
Furthermore, when we sought quotes for building insurance recently, only one insurer offered insurance and did so at double the usual premium – all other insurers declined to offer insurance because of Council’s intention to issue a fire order to us which they now have now done.

Why did Council issue the order?

North Sydney Council believes that it has a reasonable basis to treat our building as non-compliant with the current fire safety requirements that are applicable to our type of building. This is largely due to a report that a registered building surveyor gave the Council in December 2022. It itemized our building’s noncompliance with the fire safety requirements in the 2019 National Construction Code. That report also recommended an itemized schedule of remedial work that would address this non-compliance. Council has
relied on that report in drafting its proposed order. Note that the building was certified for occupancy in 1994 as being compliant with the 1990 National Construction Code. Furthermore, we have provided Council annual statements attesting to our compliance with the applicable 1990 code.

Is the 2019 Code the right one to use? Shouldn’t our building be assessed against the Code that existed when our building was first approved by Council, which was 1994?

Unfortunately, the 2019 Code is the correct code to use (until a newer code is implemented). Council can legally require remedial work on a building that was built years ago in order to address non-compliance with fire safety requirements that are in force now. This is regardless of whether Council approved a building’s compliance with any requirements that existed earlier.

What if we don’t do all the remedial work that the council orders? Can’t we do the cheaper work now and delay the more expensive work for a few years?

We must complete all works that the Council orders us to do if we want to avoid penalties as well as reduce the risk of loss of life and property damage in the event of a fire.
No, we can’t delay the expensive work. Council has set a 2-year deadline for us to complete all the remedial work to their satisfaction.
It is true that some of the proposed remedial work seems easy and cheaper to complete (e.g. putting exit signs up in all fire exit stairwells). However, some of the proposed remedial work will be complex and very costly (e.g. Installing a second fire exit stairwell in every tower, or engaging recognised fire safety specialists to design and certify implementation of an alternative – i.e. a “performance solution” ). The likely most disruptive and expensive task is the installation of sprinklers in each apartment, car park, and common
areas.

This can’t be right! It sounds too excessive, unfair, and unnecessarily expensive! What has been done to check the basis for all this?

The strata committee and other concerned unit holders have voluntarily taken a number of steps to independently test the basis for the remedial works that the Council proposes. These steps are outlined in the attachment.

What further steps are being taken?

There are more steps to take to see if we can reduce the expected scope of this order and resulting costs as well as the impact that paying additional special levies will have on owners. Council delayed issuing its order until mid-May 2023. This gives us some time to test our concerns with the basis for the more costly works in the order.
The cost of these further steps, however, has not yet been sufficiently budgeted for. So we intend to call an extraordinary meeting for all unit owners to vote on the budget to fund these steps once we have obtained and short-listed the relevant quotes.

What can I do to help reduce the costs and risks?

You can help by supporting a vote to fund these further steps, as they give us the best chance of eliminating unwarranted remedial works and costs.
You can also help if you have experience in dealing with fire safety practitioners or related Council orders or can productively assist the committee in other ways on this issue. If so, please contact Fire Order Sub committee at the following email fireorder@pacificpark.org

We will give further updates in due course via the Strata Committee minutes (7 March, 18 April, and 30 May 2023) and they will also be available on our website www.pacificpark.org.

Summary

AED Consulting has been engaged by us, the Owners of Strata Plan 47991, as their superintendent for the fire safety upgrade project for the existing residential building. They reviewed the basis of the ‘intention to issue a fire order’, making several changes to the original requirements in their recommendations to NS Council on 2 June 2023. Council responded on 16 June, accepting the requested amendments, excluding the timeframe, which remains at 2 years rather than the 3 years requested by AED.

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Timeline:

5 May 2023

AED engaged by The Owners of Strata Plan 47991 as their superintendent for the fire safety upgrade project for the existing residential building located at 41 Rocklands Road, Wollstonecraft NSW. AED carried out a site investigation on 19 May 2023 and carried out a desktop assessment of the previously raised non-compliances with the 2019 building code.

2 June 2023

AED submit to NS council a revised scope of work

16 June 2023

NS Council accept the requested amendments, excluding the timeframes.

1 October 2023

Fire Order Subcommittee meets with AED to recommend a preferred tenderer, Incode Solutions, to consider and propose Fire Engineered solutions for some of the complex items identified in the scope of work.

24 Nov 2023

Quantum Fire selected by AED for assessment of common property electrical and gas installations against current codes

22 January 2024

Incode Solutions report was completed and a draft version given to AED on 2 January 2024. A final version given to the NS Council by AED on 22 January 2024 together with a request to amend its Order and to withdraw components of its order to incorporate the performance solutions recommended in Incode’s report.

16 Feb 2024

NS council advise that the report has now been referred to NSW Fire & Rescue for review.

15 April 2024

Reports received on compliance of common property electrical and gas installations against current codes; Gas installations – no issue; electrical installations need upgrading to current standard Residual Current Operated Circuit Breakers

14 May 2024

AED were advised by NS Council that due to F&R’s workload they were unable to review Incodes report. Instead, NS council recommended we engage another Fire Engineering firm to “peer review” Incode Solutions report

20 May 2024

AED clarify with NS Council the requirements for peer review and commence to obtain quotes.

24 June 2024

AED provides their recommendation on 2 quotes that were obtained for the peer review.

28 June 2024

i-Fire Engineers engaged to conduct the peer review required by NS Council

Quantum Fire Protection engaged to carry electrical installation upgrade to common property

8 August 2024

Quantum completed required electrical work

12 August 2024

i-Fire initial peer review comments and queries provided to InCode in the form of a marked up version of InCode’s report;

27 Sept 2024

After several queries and questions, the fire engineers peer reviewed and modified report (version 3) was provided by InCode to i-Fire and AED.

22 October 2024

Prior to finalisation of the submission to Council, confirmation was needed on the compliance of the existing fire hydrant system with the requirements in force at the time of construction (1994). AED arranged a hydrant audit by a registered Hydrant designer, Vortex Fire Protection. to conduct this audit, cost estimate $4837 + GST (TBC).

The aim was for the hydrant audit, finalisation of Incode’s peer reviewed recommendations, and review by AED and the subcommittee be completed before the end of November, for submission to NS Council by 1 December, 2024. Unfortunately, this deadline was not achieved.

17 December 2024

Incode’s final report (version 5), which also incorporated recommendations from the hydrant audit, was received on 17 December, 2024, and i-Fire’s peer review report was received on 9 January, 2025.

13 January 2025

The Strata sub-committee reviewed both reports and on 13 January 2025 recommended to AED Consulting that they submit both documents to North Sydney Council for comment and approval.

We are not able to go to tender on the major work embodied in Incode’s report version 5 until NS Council agrees to their proposals.

20 January 2025

AED Consulting submit both documents to North Sydney Council Tim@AED advised that we should have a response within 10 business days. Response received on 26 February; the delay was due to NS Council staff being on leave.

26 February 2025

NS Council Environmental & Building Compliance (EBC) advised AED that to be in a position to proceed with a modified fire order, a further review and acceptance by a building surveyor-unrestricted was needed. We were also asked to provide a fire safety schedule.

4 March 2025

The reason for a further review was unclear, and appeared to be unnecessary. A zoom meeting was organised by the subcommittee with Tim Peng of AED, requesting him to seek clarification from NS Council EBC, pointing out that Council already had required a peer review of Incode’s FER.

4 April 2025

Council responded that it had reviewed the Fire Order Modification Request letter and has agreed to Fire Engineered Solutions Report (dated 17 December 2024) – prepared by Nehme Moujalli of InCode Solutions Pty Ltd, noting its intention to issue a Modified Development Control Order – Fire Safety Order and provided a draft for comment. Through Tim Peng of AED, Council asked us to advise whether the owners agreed to the issuance of the Draft Modified Development Control Order – Fire Safety Order.

8 April 2025

A Zoom meeting of the Fire Order subcommittee considered the draft noting a number of modifications were needed to the draft order

14 April 2025

A Team’s meeting of the sub-committee was held with Tim Peng of AED at which was noted the need to update the Terms of Reference (1), as a number of requirements listed in the “Timetable for the Proposed Fire Safety Upgrading Works” (pages 50-53) in Fire Safety & Building Code of Australia Assessment Report dated 7 December 2022, had been deleted or modified. Further the requirement that the modified Order (once issued) must be complied with by 4 April 2026, was an unreasonably short period given the complexity of the tasks required for 162 apartments. Tim Peng (17 April) had made contact with the relevant Council officer. At present we have no details of the range of matters discussed.

At present we have spent approximately $327,819 on addressing the fire order, comprising $299,411 paid, and another $28, 408 yet to pay, according to contracts as at 28 January 2025.

Owners and interested parties are kept informed of the progress of the Fire Order through Strata Committee minutes and the website https://pacificpark.org/

Tony Moon, for the Fire Order Sub-Committee

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Reference Documents:

1/6/2022 Fire Brigade Report to Council

7/12/2022 BCP – Fire Safety and BCA Assessment Report (Rev.1)

13/7/2022 North Sydney Council – Intention to issue order

11/1/2023 North Sydney Council – Notice of Intention Fire Safety Order

2/6/2023 AED Group Proposed Amendments and Upgrade Strategy

13/2/2023 Extension of time request

7/3/2023 OC meeting – Proposal to OC to seek legal advice

7/3/2023 OC meeting – SC recommendations to OC – Fire orders

12/3/2023 SC Analysis and Action items