Property developers and building defects how safe is your apartment tower

Property Developers and Defects- the defects dilemma by Dr Jon Drane. A little history of private property  development and its effect on defect levels in Australia.

Defects have plagued buildings for decades if not centuries, and no more so than in the post war era of the private developer and with the emergence of the ‘design and construct’ project- the sister act of development as a private system of creation of our titled buildings.

Although many D&C projects are created with minimal defects, the practice of D&C and its evolution out of the previous Architect and Master Builder era, has a large part to play.

This paper takes us through a brief history lesson including the emergence of private property development and D&C in the post-WWII era, and the associated vulnerability of standards of construction across professions and regulatory systems. The erosion of the regulatory process, both professional and authority-based, is also revealed in the emergence of private certification and the dilemma of the slippery deal. The end product of such a system is illustrated with a ‘horror’ case example of one of its offspring.

Finally a ‘Defects Scenario Matrix’ is put forward for ways to keep a handle on defects on the D&C project based on a review of the horror case example and then a case example with a low defects regime.

 

Read Jonathan’s paper:

Drane 2015- Defects A Builders View

Read this blog article as pdf:

dd1-the-defects-dilemma

 

By Dr Jon Drane

Dr Jonathan Drane is a recognised writer, researcher, advisor and teacher in city and property development processes. He is an expert witness in complex construction and property development issues. Jonathan is also the editor of The City Whisperer which explores our growing cities and the results and malaise of growth. http://www.jondrane.net/

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.