Aland deny any Mascot Towers culpability but refuse access to neighbours

The developer of an apartment block neighbouring the beleaguered Mascot Towers has disputed claims it could be to blame for the building's cracks.

There had been earlier engineering advice that potentially linked the building's issues partly to ALAND's next-door development called Peak Towers.

But ALAND on Friday said it was "completely confident that an independent investigation will confirm that the failures at Mascot Towers are unrelated to construction nearby."

"We believe the comments of the building commissioner at the NSW parliamentary inquiry support ALAND's contention that the problems at Mascot Towers pre-date any work undertaken by ALAND."

After visiting Mascot Towers last week, the newly appointed building commissioner David Chandler told an upper house committee that he'd not seen many building as poorly built.

"I'm quite certain the builder didn't know how to read any construction plans because the faults that are in that building are simply someone who didn't pay any attention to them," Mr Chandler told MPs.

A dilapidation report prepared in 2017 for ALAND's pending construction found parts of the Mascot Towers complex were in "reasonable-to-poor" prior to the construction of Peak Towers.

It noted cases of cracking, material loss, material separation and efflorescence - the deposit of white crystalline salts on concrete.

The Daily Telegraph reported ALAND rejected a request for access­ from lawyers representing the Mascot owners corporation for access because it “did not demonstrate a genuine need from an engineering perspective as to why it was required”.

“The information sought could either have been obtained­ from plans and associated reports relating to Peak Towers, or bore no relevance to the access that was requested,” it said.

Legal proceedings against the adjacent ALAND-built Peak Towers building are being considered after engineers were denied access to the site.