Building companies face Court over Kew Recreation Centre roof collapse

Two Melbourne-based building companies, ADCO Group and Colab Building Tech, have faced Court over the 2022 collapse of the steel roof structure on the new Kew Recreation Centre.

The companies faced the Melbourne Magistrates Court earlier this week for a filing hearing in a prosecution brought by WorkSafe Victoria.

They each charged with one count of failing to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that a workplace under its management or control was safe and without risks to health.

The charges follow a two-year investigation.

The two companies were contracted to work on the $73 million redevelopment of the Kew Recreation Centre that was due to be completed last year.

However, the steel roof structure collapsed on the evening of 20th October 2022. Fortunately, as the site was vacant at the time no one was injured.

The prosecution will allege it was reasonably practicable to have a competent person check the quality assurance documents provided for an imported steel truss to ensure that it had been welded in accordance with the design drawings and fabrication requirements.

The companies will next appear before the Melbourne Magistrates Court on 24th February next year for a committal hearing.

Construction of the new facility was halted after the roof collapsed and its steel frame was demolished and removed.

Delayed by more than two years, works are scheduled to begin again on the site by 17th December.

In September, the City of Boroondara unanimously passed a resolution that empowered it to take any step necessary to ensure the completion of the project.

The construction failure has left Boroondara residents without the facilities for four years and a lingering, unresolved final cost to ratepayers.

ADCO group, who remains responsible for the build, notified the Council that a contract was signed for procurement of the structural steel required to rebuild the structure.

Last year ADCO advised that imported steel used for the trussed roof was not the cause of the collapse.

In a letter to clients in March 2023, revealed through a Freedom of Information request, Adco blamed the collapse on a “design-related issue”.

It added that the collapse had probably doubled the cost of the inner-eastern Melbourne facility.

The letter triggered a public rift between the builder and the City of Boroondara with Council saying Adco’s claims, based on the findings by a consultant the builder it had engaged, were unproven and “simply not supported”.

When complete, the new facility will include a learn to swim pool, a warm water pool, an aqua play area, an onsite childcare and indoor sport courts.

Images: The collapsed roof at the Kew Recreation Centre (top and below, credit: Derek Harbison).