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A review of defects in low-rise residential buildings in the Australian State of Victoria

conference contribution
posted on 2018-11-20, 00:00 authored by Vidal Paton-Cole, Argaw GurmuArgaw Gurmu
Over the last few decades, quality and life-cycle costs of low-rise residential buildings has been a key issue in the construction industry as a result of construction and/or latent defects which undermines the functional requirements of various building elements. Most defects in these buildings are often latent in nature and appear during the occupancy stages of the building. Thus making these defects difficult and expensive to fix as getting access to the source of defective elements in a completed building could be difficult. Findings from previous studies showed that the number of defects associated with newly constructed low-rise residential buildings in the Australian State of Victoria increased between the year 1996 and 2004. As part of an ongoing research project, this paper presents an overview of the various associated latent defects in Victoria, commencing from 2010 when the current structure for issuing domestic building insurance was initiated. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) database was used and reported cases related to residential building defects were analysed and evaluated. Cracks on plasterworks and walls were found to be some of the common defects in the selected case study buildings. Research of this nature can assist regulatory bodies to evaluate the efficiency of existing building policies and further help them institute measures to prevent defects and subsequently improve construction quality in low-rise residential buildings.

History

Pagination

1-9

Location

Sydney, New South Wales

Start date

2018-11-18

End date

2018-11-20

Language

eng

Publication classification

E Conference publication, E1 Full written paper - refereed

Title of proceedings

ICEC-PAQS 2018 : Grassroots to Concrete Jungle: Dynamics in Built Environment

Event

International Cost Engineering Council & Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors. Joint Congress (2018 : 11th & 22nd : Sydney, New South Wales)

Publisher

Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors

Place of publication

Sydney, N.S.W.

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