Falling down on safety

Are there really 8000 unstable balconies in Australia?  Could there be even more?

After a wooden balcony packed with young people gave way during a party at a house in Lane Cove last week, building advisory service Archicentre said six per cent of Australian homes have a timber balcony or deck and about 8000 of them are unsafe.

The problem in strata is that a building may have 100 balconies and although they are much less likely to be wooden, do we know they are solid enough to withstand the numbers that, for instance, crowd on to them to watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks?

More to the point, should we check? That’s a big question; if you find building defects you have to fix them.

And even in a new building, that doesn’t mean dodgy developers have to pay for their shoddy work.  The way our legal and insurance system works,  it’s often cheaper for them to fight you in court.

So are they dangerous? While balconies that are part of the flooring slab are likely to be fairly solid, you can’t be so sure about the balustrades.  And what about the “clip-on” balconies in hotel and office building conversions?

Don’t be surprised if some cautious Owners Corporations start limiting the numbers of people you are allowed to have on your balcony.

Meanwhile, did you notice that one victim of the Lane Cove collapse ended up under a barbecue?  Barbecues on wooden balconies – keeping the gene pool strong!

On a happier note, a TV producer is looking for an apartment in a small block or terrace, in which to shoot a new sitcom over two weeks in July.

The style should be somewhere between deco and  Sydney Cool and it would have to accessible for a film crew and its gear. If you want to make a little cash while you are away on holiday (and you’d want to be), contact location manager Peter Hicks on 0414216021 or at pticks@alphalink.com.au.

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