Back in March, the Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) ruled that those who consulted to builder LU Simon on Melbourne’s Lacrosse Building were responsible for the flammable cladding that caused a potentially fatal fire in 2014. LU Simon was also ordered to pay apartment owners $5.75 million in damages arising from the fire, but the consultants, which include architecture firm Elenberg Fraser, were ordered to reimburse LU Simon for this cost, as well as paying an additional $6.8 million for the cost of the cladding’s replacement.
Now, the building surveyor, fire engineer and architect of the Lacrosse building have taken their case to Victoria’s Supreme Court of Appeal, in a bid to have VCAT’s decision overturned. From The AFR:
While each of the consultants has its own argument, the three – collectively hit with 97 per cent of liability in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal judgment in February – want the higher court to allocate more liability to builder LU Simon, saying the builder largely escaped its statutory obligations under the state’s Building Act and should be regarded as a “concurrent wrongdoer”…
