Ongoing engagement with industry a top priority for Cladding Safety Victoria

Cladding Safety Victoria recently presented to more than 650 building practitioners as part of a virtual series of presentations facilitated by the Victorian Building Authority (VBA).

Builders, building surveyors, engineers, architects and other industry professionals joined the presentation to hear Cladding Safety Victoria Chief Executive Dan O’Brien talk about progress of Victoria’s world-first $600 million Cladding Rectification Program.

Progress of the program has been rapid – to date, Cladding Safety Victoria has met with 528 owners corporations and completed detailed inspections on 380 buildings. It also has 228 funding agreements with owners corporations in place and has appointed 141 builders to individual projects.

Independent Project Managers have been appointed to 246 buildings to assist owners corporations through the complex rectification process to ensure works run smoothly.

'It was a great opportunity to talk to industry professionals about the program, key lessons we’ve learnt along the way and to discuss the importance of prioritising funding to fix the state’s highest-risk buildings,' Mr O’Brien said.

'We’re taking a risk-based approach to determine the order in which buildings will be rectified as part of the program. Those buildings with the highest risk posed by combustible cladding will be prioritised first to receive funding, and it was great to talk this through with industry.'

Mr O’Brien also spoke about other topics including building defects beyond cladding affecting the program and the role of Cladding Safety Victoria in developing an insurance solution to protect owners and to encourage the participation of quality practitioners.

'The rectification of non-compliant combustible cladding is an extremely complex process, and the solution for each building is different. Discussing these complex issues in a collaborative way with industry practitioners is a very important part of our program,' Mr O’Brien said.

Cladding Safety Victoria will continue engaging with industry through additional forums as the program is delivered.

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