Project Update June 2023

CJK is currently involved in a number of expert witness cases in both NSW and QLD and have also provided technical notes for building renovations and business relocations.

We are excited to be involved in the Flinders Street (Townsville) Wharf Re-Development. The concept involves a cafe/restaurant, nightclub and function room and will be a great addition for the residents in the Townsville area.

Another very exciting project is the Greenbank Large Scale Battery Connection Project. CJK is conducting a risk assessment for the development of Queensland’s largest utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS).

Expert Witness Cases

• Christina is currently engaged by a legal team in NSW, representing the owners a residential building with 66 apartments. She will provide a non-litigation complaint written report expressing her independent expert opinion in response to the matters identified in a number of reports as to the existence of the alleged defects and the reasonable and necessary scope of rectification.
• In another legal case in NSW, representing the builder of a residential building with 43 apartment units across two buildings, Christina was instructed to arrange and undertake a site inspection of the building to inspect the alleged defects. She must then agree or disagree with the defects and comment on whether the recommended scope of rectification work is appropriate or excessive and whether the defect is caused by a defective design or defective construction/installation work.
• A medical facility in QLD has a case regarding the Aluminum Composite Panels (ACPs) that have been used. Christina has been engaged to provide her expert opinion in relation to the presence of façade materials at certain locations of the facility. The usage and combustibility of ACPs has had much media attention over the years and must always be analysed in a case by case basis.

Technical Notes

• A residential building in NSW is undergoing renovations. As part of the renovation works, some structural members are proposed to be embedded into the bounding wall. CJK was engaged to prepare a technical note to assess the proposed design against the Deemed-to-Satisfy (DTS) Provisions of the BCA and identify a scope of works to ensure the system is capable of meeting the requirements of the DTS Provisions.
• A college in Sydney was exploring the opportunity to move their facility to a different location. The subject building is currently classified as Class 5 and the introduction of an educational facility will trigger a change of use at Level 4 from Class 5 to Class 9b. CJK was engaged to provide a technical note regarding fire safety systems upgrades.

Fire Engineering Projects

• CJK is excited to be involved in the Flinders Street (Townsville) Wharf Re-Development. The concept involves a cafe/restaurant, nightclub and function room. CJK as the Fire Engineer, will prepare a performance-based design brief to address numerous DTS departures.
• CS Energy is building Queensland’s largest utility-scale battery energy storage system at Powerlink’s Greenbank Substation. This is expected to play a major role in improving grid stability and support the state’s ongoing shift to renewable energy. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) store energy from renewables like solar and wind for later use which makes renewable energy more reliable. This project is described as “Australia’s first truly cooperative BESS utilisation and optimisation scheme, partnering a transmission network provider with a generation and retail business”. THIS BESS will be connecting to the existing Powerlink Greenbank 275 kV substation. CJK has been brought in by Consolidated Power Projects Australia to conduct a fire risk assessment of the new facility.