Johnson Court is a ten-story development comprising 120 retail and residential properties. Cracked bricks on the upper floor balcony nib walls, on the western elevation of the building, prompted the Council of Owners to have a Structural Assessment undertaken on the structure in June 2020.
The report advised that the balcony wing walls of the 12 units on the upper floor were all cracked in a similar pattern; 23 nib walls in total. During the course of the assessment, a brick had been removed in one of the units to reveal a roof tie-down that was in an advanced state of corrosion. It was determined that the brick cracking, in each of the 23 balcony wing walls, was the result of the swelling of the corroded tie-downs.
In September 2021, the Council of Owners engaged BUSS to complete the remedial works; the work scope included the following:
• Demolition of cracked wall nib bricks around the roof tie-downs;
• Installation of new hot dipped galvanised tie-downs;
• Reconstruction of the wall nib bricks around the new roof tie-downs with like for like bricks toothed into the existing;
• Brick and window sill repointing;
• Repainting of window lintels; and
• Installation of fixings to the roof structure (like for like)
Fig 1: Demolition of cracked wall nib bricks exposing corroded roof tie down.
Fig 2: Corroded roof tie-down in wall nib
Fig 3: Reconstruction of wall nib bricks around new roof tie-down
Fig 4: Drops (shaded in yellow) to be repointed
