The man brought in to take down NSW‘s dodgiest building companies left so many in fear and on edge he found out some had already pre-bought champagne to celebrate his impending resignation.
Outgoing NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler was hand-picked in 2019 by then premier Gladys Berejiklian to be the state’s construction cop, tasked with punishing dodgy developers.
And while the building commissioner had big plans to hang up his hard hat at the end of the year, he decided he might stay on a bit longer – at least until April 2023 – when he heard developers were getting ready to celebrate his departure.
‘I really was set on going fishing on September 30,’ Mr Chandler told a property Council NSW event in Sydney‘s west in April, according to property website Urban Developer.
‘And then I heard that a whole bunch of these guys, over here in this corner, had already ordered champagne for a party on October 1.
‘And I thought wouldn’t it be fun to give them a reason to put the champagne back in the cabinet.’
But Mr Chandler’s cheeky torture wasn’t to be.
Tough-talking NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler addresses state parliament shortly after his appointment to the role in 2019
The extension would have seen Mr Chandler in the job until September 2023 but on Monday he announced he would be quitting in November.
Mr Chandler was recently cleared of any wrongdoing by a departmental inquiry, which looked into claims he misled parliament.
He told parliament he did not recommend specific certifiers but a pre-dated video later surfaced where Mr Chandler appeared to say he had presented the banks with an informal list of certifiers that he ‘wouldn’t be bloody having on a job’.
Mr Chandler anticipated some developers would welcome him moving on from being the construction watchdog with champagne but decided to deny them that pleasure for an extra year
The inquiry found claims Mr Chandler misled parliament were unsubstantiated but its full findings are set to be published next week.
Following the shock news of his departure Mr Chandler released a statement.
‘I believe the time is right for a reset and I am firmly committed to working with the secretary, the team and industry until the end of my tenure,’ he said.
‘I do not want my resignation to distract people from what has been achieved so far, and the work that is still to be done.’
NSW Fair Trading Minister Eleni Petinos, who denies recent allegations of bullying levelled at her by Newscorp, did not directly answer questions put to her about why Mr Chandler resigned.
She issued a short statement of appreciation for his work.
‘Mr Chandler has assisted the NSW government to achieve significant reforms in the residential construction sector since 2019,’ Ms Petinos said.
‘He helped develop and implement Project Remediate, ensuring NSW residential apartment buildings have safe, non-combustible cladding.’
Mascot Towers in Sydney’s south had to be urgently evacuated in June 2019 when alarming cracks were found in the ceiling
The NSW Building Commissioner was created to police construction standards after two Sydney apartment buildings, Opal Tower and Mascot Towers, had to be hastily evacuated when alarming cracks appeared.
Opal Tower, in Sydney’s west, had to be abandoned on Christmas Eve 2018 after a wall cracked in the new building.
And Mascot Towers tenants, in Sydney’s inner south, were given just four hours to evacuate over fears the building could collapse after cracks were found in its basement on June 16, 2019.
There were also concerns that NSW apartment buildings were enclosed in the same flammable cladding that caused the Grenfell Tower inferno in London and removing this has been a major focus of Mr Chandler’s work.
Considered a tough, no-nonsense veteran of the construction industry, Mr Chandler on his first day on the job told builders and developers: ‘Expect to see me in your site shed sometime soon.’
Residents in Opal Tower in Sydney’s west had to flee the building when a crack appeared in a wall on Christmas Eve 2018
Mr Chandler was given wide-ranging powers to enter construction sites and deny occupancy certificates if he found defects in the work.
He also oversaw the development of a quality rating program for developers and helped create new laws that reinforced developer accountability and mandated they had insurance.
‘The development industry is getting the fact that this legislation is serious. It’s got teeth and it’s going to turn the dial,’ Chandler said.
Construction workers repair the damage at Mascot Towers, which raised fears about the shonky standards of developers in NSW
‘Our data assets are the second largest, outside the Defence department, in New South Wales. If you think we don’t know how to find you, if you are a bad player, we do.’
‘We know now who’s providing the money on every single job. We know whether it’s good money or dirty money. Almost anything that you can think of as a question, we’ve probably got the answer to it.’
Mr Chandler attracted considerable praise for his efforts in cleaning up construction following the high profile disasters at Opal and Mascot towers.
Strata Community Association NSW president Stephen Brell told the Sydney Morning Herald Chandler had been vital for restoring confidence among apartment buyers.
‘The commissioner’s been very effective, especially with getting Fair Trading involved with inspecting building defects and holding builders to account for works that they’ve done,’ Brell said.
‘I think in a very quick turnaround time, their risk of buying a dud is significantly reduced.’
The NSW government says it will announce who the next building commissioner will be before Mr Chandler leaves in November.