‘Our data assets are the second largest, outside the Defence department, in New South Wales. There were also concerns that NSW apartment buildings were enclosed in the same flammable cladding that caused the Grenfell Tower inferno in London and removing this has been a major focus of Mr Chandler’s work.Ĭonsidered a tough, no-nonsense veteran of the construction industry, Mr Chandler on his first day on the job told builders and developers: ‘Expect to see me in your site shed sometime soon.’Ĭonstruction workers repair the damage at Mascot Towers, which raised fears about the shonky standards of developers in NSW
Opal Tower, in Sydney’s west, had to be abandoned on Christmas Eve 2018 after a wall cracked in the new building.Īnd Mascot Towers tenants, in Sydney’s inner south, were given just four hours to evacuate over fears the building could collapse after cracks were found in its basement on June 16, 2019. The NSW Building Commissioner was created to police construction standards after two Sydney apartment buildings, Opal Tower and Mascot Towers, had to be hastily evacuated when alarming cracks appeared. Mascot Towers in Sydney’s south had to be urgently evacuated in June 2019 when alarming cracks were found in the ceiling ‘He helped develop and implement Project Remediate, ensuring NSW residential apartment buildings have safe, non-combustible cladding.’ ‘Mr Chandler has assisted the NSW government to achieve significant reforms in the residential construction sector since 2019,’ Ms Petinos said. She issued a short statement of appreciation for his work. NSW Fair Trading Minister Eleni Petinos, who denies recent allegations of bullying levelled at her by Newscorp, did not directly answer questions put to her about why Mr Chandler resigned.
‘I do not want my resignation to distract people from what has been achieved so far, and the work that is still to be done.’ ‘I believe the time is right for a reset and I am firmly committed to working with the secretary, the team and industry until the end of my tenure,’ he said.
The inquiry found claims Mr Chandler misled parliament were unsubstantiated but its full findings are set to be published next week.įollowing the shock news of his departure Mr Chandler released a statement.
Mr Chandler anticipated some developers would welcome him moving on from being the construction watchdog with champagne but decided to deny them that pleasure for an extra year ‘And I thought wouldn’t it be fun to give them a reason to put the champagne back in the cabinet.’īut Mr Chandler’s cheeky torture wasn’t to be. ‘And then I heard that a whole bunch of these guys, over here in this corner, had already ordered champagne for a party on October 1. ‘I really was set on going fishing on September 30,’ Mr Chandler told a property Council NSW event in Sydney’s west in April, according to property website Urban Developer. Outgoing NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler was hand-picked in 2019 by then premier Gladys Berejiklian to be the state’s construction cop, tasked with punishing dodgy developers.Īnd while the building commissioner had big plans to hang up his hard hat at the end of the year, he decided he might stay on a bit longer – at least until April 2023 – when he heard developers were getting ready to celebrate his departure.
The man brought in to take down NSW’s dodgiest building companies left so many in fear and on edge he found out some had already pre-bought champagne to celebrate his impending resignation.