Bolje spreciti nego leciti. – Serbian proverb

Rough translation of above proverb is the title of this article. The system that our construction industry is based on relies on insurances and legal remedies – the cure for whatever mistakes happen during design and construction.

Latest resulting debacle is another residential block which residents had to be evacuated in the rush and appartment’s owners will suffer plummeting value of their properties – Mascot Towers:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/mascot-towers-peak-industry-bodies-call-for-building-sector-crackdown-20190616-p51y9f.html

It is not difficult to understand that the cost of treatment is far higher than the cost of prevention – doing the job properly in the first place.

What would prevent these outcomes? Buildings must be designed properly, constructed properly and certified properly.

Simple!

Or is it?

What is the Australian experience with residential flat buildings? Until the end of last century apartments were built for people who had no other choice but to live in them – social housing and low-end investment stock. Relatively simple designs, mostly walk-ups, with minimum amenity standards prescribed by Building Code, simple structures and basic building services. Built, equally simply, with basic construction methods.

About two decades ago things started changing, lead by new wave of immigrants from Europe and Asia who have apartment living as a their choice. They brought a different culture of living and different requirements for standards of amenities, appearance and location of apartment developments.

Demand for apartments skyrocketed in short period of time. However, industry didn’t have the expertise nor capacity to satisfy such demand. It takes time to educate architects, engineers, project managers, certifiers, foremen, plumbers, electricians, aircon specialist, and such … about finer points and challenges of solving increasingly sophisticated problems in apartment living. But there was no time. The pressure was on for grabbing as big a share of the market as quickly as possible.

High demand dictates speed of design and delivery. This, combined with lack of expertise, usually equals lower quality. With a poor prevention system we now must rely on the insurance and legal system to deliver remedies.

Exception might be those few with the longer history in the apartment market and with integrated design and delivery procedures. Their expertise might prove very valuable for implementing preventative methods in our construction industry - good design, solid documentation, experienced builders.

And care. Beyond duty.