Two building surveyors formerly employed by a now collapsed company have been fined over a height dispute for an apartment project in Scarborough.
WA’s Building Services Board found that Jonathan James Bovell and Bradley James Pike misidentified building floors as mezzanines leading to fire safety concerns at an apartment development in the coastal suburb.
The two registered surveyors were at the time employed by John Massey Group, which was one of the state’s largest building surveyors before it collapsed into liquidation in 2020.
According to the Building Services Board, the surveyors identified the building’s top floors as mezzanines when they were in fact storeys, causing fire safety concerns.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services lodged a complaint against the building permit application, outlining concerns around fire safety measures due to the development technically exceeding 25 metres in height due to the mezzanines.
Buildings above 25 metres require additional fire safety features such as a sprinkler system throughout the building, two fire exits per storey and other measures.
But the surveyors said the effective height of the development was under 25 metres because the penthouse apartments contained mezzanines, rather than additional storeys.
Despite mezzanines not being defined as building storeys, Building and Energy deemed that the Scarborough development’s top floors extended over other apartments and public corridors meaning they were storeys, rather than mezzanines and that they should have been included in the building’s effective height calculation, making it more than 25 metres tall.
Mr Bovell and Mr Pike each received a caution and a $1,000 fine from the Building Services Board.
“Incorrect or liberal interpretations of building codes are unacceptable, particularly when this impacts on a crucial safety issue such as fire protection,” Building and Energy executive director Saj Abdoolakhan said.
“Registered building surveyors must ensure the buildings they certify meet minimum required levels of safety, health, amenity, accessibility and sustainability.
“Their duty to act in the public interest must come before any responsibilities to clients or employers.”
