All publications relating to ‘Helen Kowal’
The evolution of a legal team, introducing Swaab’s team servicing the property industry
The pace of transformation, increased volume and complexity of projects has continued unabated within the property sector. As one of the firm’s fastest growing teams, our team servicing the property industry has seen a growing demand over the past 24-months across the full spectrum of property services. Diversification and the introduction of…
Remedial Works in strata schemes – were they nearly forgotten?
We are all aware of the push by the NSW Government to ‘restore consumer confidence’ in the NSW Construction Industry and the need to tackle the issue of serious defects being experienced by many unit owners throughout NSW. Whilst the majority of building and design practitioners out there are slowly adapting…
NSW Construction Industry Shut Down – Partial re-opening as of 31 July 2021
On Wednesday 28 July 2021, the NSW Premier took steps to re-open certain construction sites in parts of Greater Sydney following the earlier construction industry shut down orders which came into effect on 17 July 2021. Amendments have been made by the Public Health (COVID-19 Temporary Movement and Gathering Restrictions) Amendment…
Dealing with the NSW Construction Industry shut down — managing existing works
On 17 July 2021, the NSW Government amended the Public Health (Covid-19 Temporary Movement and Gathering Restrictions) Order 2021 (the Orders) to deal with the ongoing outbreak of the Covid-19 Delta variant in the Greater Sydney area. The net impact of the insertion of clauses 22(4A) and 24AB is that the…
Helen Kowal’s article published in Sourceable.net | Finally, Better Building Practices are Being Enforced
Back in 2019, frustrated in my profession as to how many building defects appear in multi-storey residential buildings shortly after construction leading to multi-millions of dollars being spent on remedial repairs, I spent the year interviewing expert building consultants as to their views on the state of play in construction and…
Our most popular articles published during 2020
We are almost at the end of 2020, and with the end of a year comes the opportunity to reflect on our most popular articles published during the year: 1. COVID-19 Tenancy Update by Mary Digiglio & Tony D’Agostino | Property, Planning & Projects | 24 September 2020 2. COVID-19 | Redundancy payments during the…
Can we build better buildings in NSW?
The construction industry in New South Wales is in crisis and has been at an impasse for a prolonged period of time. The question as to why we have so many building defects, particularly in multi-storey residential apartment buildings, was being asked long before the Opal and Mascot tower disasters and…
NSW Construction Industry Reform
The NSW Building Commissioner, David Chandler OAM, is at the ready with ‘boots on the ground’, to ‘rid the industry of dangerous builders, developers and certifiers’ and improve consumer confidence in the buying of residential apartments in NSW with the commencement on 1 September 2020 of the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance…
Addressing Building Defects in Strata Schemes
Legislative obligations and functions for a strata scheme can be overwhelming in the first few years and it may take time to establish a functioning strata committee. Obviously, the thought of defects in a strata scheme are not what is on a lot owner’s mind having just purchased a new unit. However, with strict time…
The NSW Construction Industry – where are we at in 2020?
No-one could have anticipated the impact that so many unrelated, but colliding events, has had on all industry sectors throughout Australia in 2020. Whilst the long-term economic impact of these events on the construction industry is unknown, this industry is one sector which has been able to continue working, even…