Recently in Sydney, we’ve been watching the story unfold around Opal Tower and its structural design and construction issues that have caused the relatively new building to crack. With residents being evacuated and the tower requiring significant rectification works, this has had a devastating flow-on effect for all stakeholders involved.
Although the building is deemed structurally sound and in no immediate danger of collapse, an interim engineering assessment has revealed that the cracked concrete panels had diverged from the original design, in both manufacture and assembly. The outcome of this blunder is a slow and costly repair process.
While this may be a one-off incident, it does highlight the need for proper supplier governance and control measures, along with a formal oversight method for your contractors, particularly in the build stage of your project.
Implementing an effective vendor compliance strategy in place for each of your developments and buildings, not only averts risk but gives you the opportunity to shortlist your most trusted vendors and continue to build relationships with them. It is imperative that you have a pool of reliable suppliers whose workmanship is exceptional, as is their track record for delivering on time. Having a well-implemented vendor compliance process, in turn, leads to creating further efficiencies throughout your business – in both the short and long term.
Understanding the importance of managing your contractor services, BuildingLink has released our latest tech innovation, the Vendor Compliance Module (VCM). Developed by our Australian team and now adopted by our US partners, the VCM provides a central system to upload copies of your contractor documentation such as licences, insurances, inductions and more.
A unique feature, the VCM also notifies relevant parties of upcoming expiration dates (on trade licences, insurance, etc), sending an automatic alert thirty days prior. An invaluable element in our complete app suite of products, VCM streamlines your vendor compliance process, minimises your supplier risk, saves you considerable time on supplier admin and helps to futureproof your building.
To learn more about our Vendor Compliance Module and how to implement it in your building, connect with our BuildingLink team by emailing support@buildinglinkinternational.com today.
References:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-21/opal-tower-effect-to-hit-sydney-apartment-prices/10727268