Fixing Broken Buildings

Welcome to Canberra

What a week to start out 2021: 23,000 Facebook views and 42,500 YouTube views for the #Canberra inspired music video #WelcomeToCanberra Here’s the radio interview for the music video at the Studio of ABC Canberra on New Year’s Day. That was a fun ride for something that I wasn’t originally planning to post, a bit of a laugh and some creative fun in and around our wonderful city to end the year :-) Hope you enjoy the interview.

OK, sooooo it’s time for a holiday break, and I have made a song for the first time ever. My tween daughters helped me film it

Insurance- Dimitri Livas - Fixing Broken Buildings #28 Why do we need Insurance… well unfortunately, none of us can tell the future. You see, you never know when there's gonna be a bump in the road that could impact your property, revenue and livelihood. This is one of the reasons we have insurance policies, so if and when something does go wrong, we can rest assured that we’ve covered all our bases. Some claims can be smaller in scale, an isolated incident affecting one property, but insurance can also cover those big-ticket disasters, fires, floods, earthquakes, events that are widespread and often devastating. How can we make sure we’re getting the cover that we need?

In this First Episode of FIGHT, Business enthusiast and successful entrepreneur Dimitri Livas introduces us to the principles of business success, The Powerful Strategies and Tactics to help you win in Business Bio: A born entrepreneur, Dimitri did it all, from hustling car washes as a kid in the local neighbourhood to collecting garbage in the twilight hours before high school and then purchasing and turning around a run down restaurant during University. All of this before earning a Bachelor of Commerce as well as an Advanced Diploma in Construction Management, and building his own successful commercial construction company, building multi-million dollar projects for some of Australia's biggest brands. Having started several small businesses and developed them into successful and thriving ventures, employing hundreds of staff and contractors. The Savvy Entrepreneur Ⓡ and Professional Speaker, Dimitri Livas has survived the ups and downs of financial cycles and the blows that all new business has to weather and endure in order to grow. With Innovative, Resourcefulness and Relationships, Dimitri has won his fair share of business battles while many others have failed, and has a story or two to share.

Five emerging Construction Technologies - Dimitri Livas - Fixing Broken Buildings #27 5 emerging construction technologies that are going to shape the future. It's now 2020 and things are just constantly evolving with no signs of slowing down. We can see it happening in our everyday lives, with a new smartphone or watch out every other week. But what’s going on in the construction world? Are things moving onwards and upwards there too? The answer is a whopping YES! Things are constantly changing in our world and much of it is in the field of construction, the field of shaping the world of tomorrow. In this episode we’re going to cover 5 emerging construction technologies that will shape our futures. From materials to labour to how technology is improving our homes, workplaces and recreation spaces.

They Just Don't Build Em Like They Used To… In Episode #25: Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores how we build now-days, because... They just don't build 'em like they used to. A statement that holds true, but isn't necessarily negative. In today's world, nothing is how it used to be, we've optimised almost everything to fit our packed schedules and busy lifestyles. When we're taking a look at our building structures, the fact is, they just don't build 'em like they used to, a lot of the time they build them better.

Upcycling and Remodelling Commercial Buildings … In Episode #24: Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores Upcycling, because… At some point, we must look at existing sites for the purpose of finding space for new projects. And yet the impacts of total knock-down-rebuild-style developments on the environment and the community are huge. Demolishing and rebuilding a new building – no matter how sustainable that building is intended to be upon completion – typically creates far more carbon emissions than upcycling an existing property. Upcycling really is the way to go – designing and building smarter for better long-term outcomes. Sounds too good to be true? With the right team, it’s possible. In fact, people are doing it all over the world. #FixingBrokenBuildings #CreatingHealthyBuildings #BuildingBetterBridges #WeDoStrata

Attention: Executive Committee members of Strata Buildings. Find out how easy it can be to look after your strata buildings by partnering with a construction company that not only knows and understands your buildings, your job, and your apartment blocks... but one that does Strata. Savil - We Do Strata! #FixingBrokenBuildings #CreatingHealthyBuildings #BuildingBetterBridges #WeDoStrata

Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Restoration - ABC Radio News - Dimitri Livas - Radio #5 Creating Healthy Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas speaks to ABC Canberra Radio Host Lyndal Curtis on: ABC Radio Breakfast News - about the Restoration of Canberra’s Iconic Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.

Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas speaks to Channel 9 News Journalist Natasha MacFarlane on: WIN News about the Restoration of Canberra’s Iconic Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. #CreatingHealthyBuildings #FixingBrokenBuildings

Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Restoration - Radio Mix 106.3 Canberra - Dimitri Livas - Creating Healthy Buildings Radio #4 Healthy Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas speaks to Mix 106 Canberra Radio Hosts Cameron Sullings and Renee Bogatko on: The Cam and Renee Show - about the Restoration of Canberra’s Iconic Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. #CreatingHealthyBuildings #FixingBrokenBuildings #BuildingBetterBridges #WeDoStrata

Is your construction site safe? … In Episode #22: Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores Safety, accidents and deaths on construction sites, and why is this an issue we should care about? #CreatingHealthyBuildings #FixingBrokenBuildings

Is your Building a Lemon? … In Episode #21: Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores lemons, that’s right, a lemon, because… Sometimes... life gives you lemons, but I’m not talking about the kind that makes lemonade. I'm talking lemons that put you and your owners committee under massive amounts stress, with never ending complaints, building issues and extra costs causing you headache after headache in remedies and repairs. When a lemon is where you live, or an investment property that you own, the cost of these repairs can skyrocket, leaving you with a property that's dangerous and unsellable if the issues aren't resolved. Now that's not something anyone wants. The good news is, these lemons can be avoided! Strata building specialists, like myself, can quickly and easily spot the warning signs of a lemon. With an action plan, we can identify and fix issues early, which can end up being a whole lot cheaper or can prevent problems altogether. #FixingBrokenBuildings #CreatingHealthyBuildings #BuildingBetterBridges #WeDoStrata

Cladding Fires, Is Your Building at Safe? - In Episode #20: Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores the aluminium panel cladding crisis that’s gripping the construction industry and sending shockwaves amongst property owners, building industry participants, insurers and regulators alike.

Mould, Strata and your Health - In Episode #19: Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores Mould - the mould that lives and grows in our very homes and apartments, cause it’s a problem that is increasingly coming under the radar of health professionals, architects, designers, builders, building regulators, insurance companies, tenants and property owners, and strata managers alike. You name it, anyone who has a vested interest in property right now has mould on their radar, and right now when it comes to mould related issues, we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg. So, what is mould? And why should we be worried about it? Why is everyone talking about it? and most importantly, what can you do to fix this problem?

Dodgy Building Certifiers and Inspectors - In Episode #18: Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores Private Building Certifiers – If you’ve kept an eye on the news over the past few years, the topic of dodgy buildings being signed off has been getting a lot of airtime. Some have been cases with high rise complexes being completely evacuated and abandoned due to safety concerns, though this issue has hurt people on projects of all sizes. These ‘private certifiers’ are stuck in the middle of this. When you’ve got someone in charge of keeping things safe, but there’s a bunch of money involved, conflicts of interest pop up heaps. Plus you and I both know that the blokes signing off on nightmare buildings usually get off with just a slap on the wrist.

The Nuclear Meltdown: Chernobyl - In Episode #17: Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores Chernobyl – a name commonly associated with perhaps the biggest nuclear disaster of all time. The Chernobyl power reactor exploded on April 26th, 1986. This catastrophic explosion caused so much devastation, that the true death toll from long-term effects of radiation exposure is yet to be realised. This horrific and tragic event forever changed how the world viewed nuclear power. #FixingBrokenBuildings #CreatingHealthyBuildings #BuildingBetterBridges #WeDoStrata

Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores the impact of Concrete Cancer in our buildings and the serious problems concrete cancer can create, with the potential to affect the structural integrity of a building if it's left undiagnosed and untreated. This kind of problem can result in buildings literally falling apart – posing a risk to residents and the community. Not something to be taken lightly, that’s for sure!

Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores being a manager in the construction industry and the lack of competent supervision and skills shortages impacting senior levels in Construction Management. Dimitri also looks at how this lack of competent mentorship for new managers is just becoming common place throughout the industry and creating its own self perpetuating issues both in skills shortages and the ability to create healthy buildings in our booming market. Bio: Construction Specialist, Dimitri Livas earned a Bachelor of Commerce as well as an Advanced Diploma in Construction Management. He has over 20 years of real world construction expertise, as the founder and CEO of Savil Group which he established in 1998 and has grown to become a successful commercial construction company, building multi-million dollar projects for some of Australia's biggest brands. ​With Dimitri at the Helm, Savil and the team now focus their extensive expertise and experience on Fixing Broken Buildings and Creating Healthy Buildings. Specialties: Fixing Broken Buildings, Creating Healthy Buildings, Entrepreneurship, Commercial Construction, Speaker. Savil Group - Construction Remediation Company Website: https://www.savilgroup.com.au Dimitri Livas - Speaker and Media Website: https://www.dimitrilivas.com

Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores news that has just come out that the Evacuated Mascot Towers are going to cost at $20 million to remedy and so the residents have had the shock of a lifetime when they received this Agenda for the Owners Corporation meeting. You might remember that in June, the owners voted in favour of a $1 million special levy to make urgent repairs to the building and investigate cracks in structural support beams after the residents were evacuated just a week earlier. Now two months later, as the building remains empty, owners are gonna be asked to commit to forking out a further $10-$20 million-dollar special levy to begin substantial repairs. Well let’s see what happens, stay tuned for more updates on Mascot and other broken building issues as they come to light Bio: Construction Specialist, Dimitri Livas earned a Bachelor of Commerce as well as an Advanced Diploma in Construction Management. He has over 20 years of real world construction expertise, as the founder and CEO of Savil Group which he established in 1998 and has grown to become a successful commercial construction company, building multi-million dollar projects for some of Australia's biggest brands. ​With Dimitri at the Helm, Savil and the team now focus their extensive expertise and experience on Fixing Broken Buildings and Creating Healthy Buildings. Specialties: Fixing Broken Buildings, Creating Healthy Buildings, Entrepreneurship, Commercial Construction, Speaker. Savil Group - Construction Remediation Company Website: https://www.savilgroup.com.au Dimitri Livas - Speaker and Media Website: https://www.dimitrilivas.com

Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores 5 Famous Construction Failures Around the World. What we can learn from each of them? From South Korea's Sampoong Department Store Collapse and the Hyatt Regency Walkway in Kansas City to Italy's famous Leaning Tower of Pisa and Bangladesh's Savar Tragedy. Throughout history construction failures have happened all over the world. We can all learn from these failures and we can Fix our Broken Buildings to Create the Healthy Buildings of Tomorrow. Bio: Construction Specialist, Dimitri Livas earned a Bachelor of Commerce as well as an Advanced Diploma in Construction Management. He has over 20 years of real world construction expertise, as the founder and CEO of Savil Group which he established in 1998 and has grown to become a successful commercial construction company, building multi-million dollar projects for some of Australia's biggest brands. ​With Dimitri at the Helm, Savil and the team now focus their extensive expertise and experience on Fixing Broken Buildings and Creating Healthy Buildings. Specialties: Fixing Broken Buildings, Creating Healthy Buildings, Entrepreneurship, Commercial Construction, Speaker. Savil Group - Construction Remediation Company Website: https://www.savilgroup.com.au Dimitri Livas - Speaker and Media Website: https://www.dimitrilivas.com

Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores the Quality of New Apartment Towers. With combustible cladding just the tip of the iceberg of defects for high-rise apartment owners in Australia, who will also have to fix widespread problems such as water ingress, structural faults from sinking or shifting buildings, and incomplete fire safety systems to name just a few. Bio: Construction Specialist, Dimitri Livas earned a Bachelor of Commerce as well as an Advanced Diploma in Construction Management. He has over 20 years of real world construction expertise, as the founder and CEO of Savil Group which he established in 1998 and has grown to become a successful commercial construction company, building multi-million dollar projects for some of Australia's biggest brands. ​With Dimitri at the Helm, Savil and the team now focus their extensive expertise and experience on Fixing Broken Buildings and Creating Healthy Buildings. Specialties: Fixing Broken Buildings, Creating Healthy Buildings, Entrepreneurship, Commercial Construction, Speaker. Savil Group - Construction Remediation Company Website: https://www.savilgroup.com.au Dimitri Livas - Speaker and Media Website: https://www.dimitrilivas.com

Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores The Millennium Tower, San Francisco's very own Leaning Tower. We take a look at leaning, moving, tilting and shifting towers around the world including the recent issues with Sydney's Opal and Mascot Towers, the age old and world famous leaning tower of Pisa and Egypts Azarita tower which fell right into a neighbouring building. What causes these towers to sink? to lean? to shift and to collapse? and how can they be fixed or saved? Join Dimitri Livas for this episode number 9 of the Broken Buildings Podcast to find out more. Bio: Construction Specialist, Dimitri Livas earned a Bachelor of Commerce as well as an Advanced Diploma in Construction Management. He has over 20 years of real world construction expertise, as the founder and CEO of Savil Group which he established in 1998 and has grown to become a successful commercial construction company, building multi-million dollar projects for some of Australia's biggest brands. ​With Dimitri at the Helm, Savil and the team now focus their extensive expertise and experience on Fixing Broken Buildings and Creating Healthy Buildings. Specialties: Fixing Broken Buildings, Creating Healthy Buildings, Entrepreneurship, Commercial Construction, Speaker. Savil Group - Construction Remediation Company Website: https://www.savilgroup.com.au Dimitri Livas - Speaker and Media Website: https://www.dimitrilivas.com

Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores what happens when Bridges Collapse, exploring bridges around the world, including the recent Ponte Morandi in Italy, the famous Galloping Gertie in the USA and the Westgate Bridge in our own backyard here in Melbourne, Australia. We also look at what new technologies are being used to quake proof the bridges of the future in San Francisco, and how these advances also help us monitor and maintain older bridges more successfully.

Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores the Combustible Cladding Crisis and some of the reasons why #combustible #cladding is still causing such a dangerous conundrum in 2019. While resolving the issue remains at the forefront of property owner’s and the government’s minds, the root of the problem still hasn’t been properly addressed. No matter what preventative measures need to be taken, it goes without saying the authorities need to ensure their citizens are kept safe. How can this be resolved? What is being done? and what will and needs to be done? As the the cladding crisis continues to escalate, only time will tell what lies ahead for the construction industry in Australia.

Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores the recent evacuation of Mascot Towers due to structural issues and cracking support beams. How many more buildings will be evacuated? In the space of six months, two predominant towers in NSW have been evacuated by emergency services due to the safety of residents after structural issues. First it was the Opal Tower in December 2018, and now Mascot Towers has experienced movement and cracking in a major structural support beam that prompted engineers, building management and emergency services to evacuate the building pending further investigations. Why is this happening? Is it just happening in NSW? What is the cause of these building issues and how widespread is the problem? Is this just the tip of the iceberg? The builder seems to be the first one everyone points the finger at, but it’s a much more complex problem than that, involving engineers, architects, strata managers, owner corporations and government authorities. So, how do we fix the problem and focus on creating healthy buildings? Savil Group - Construction Remediation Company Website: https://www.savilgroup.com.au Dimitri Livas - Speaker and Media Website: https://www.dimitrilivas.com

Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores How dangerous was the nearby Sydney Opera House gas Leak? On Tuesday, 500 people were safely evacuated from the Sydney Opera House after an excavator hit a gas main during construction works. In this case, safety procedures were followed, much to the credit of the construction team and the safety crew - but how close was it to becoming a complete catastrophe? In 2014, a huge explosion from a natural gas leak killed eight people and destroyed two five-storey buildings in New York City. Natural gas is extremely combustible and in large quantities or if ignited, can be explosive and deadly. Accidentally damaging any utility is serious - essential services are interrupted, repairs are costly, and safety crews and the general public are put at risk with escaping gas possibly migrating to nearby areas and buildings where it can re-ignite within minutes. How risky is it to hit a gas line - in this case, so close to one of our most iconic landmarks? Savil Group - Construction Remediation Company Website: https://www.savilgroup.com.au Dimitri Livas - Speaker and Media Website: https://www.dimitrilivas.com

Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores the Road Collapse at Adelaide's new Darlington Road Upgrade, and how this relates to the ongoing need to both fix and repair Australia's National Road Networks, National highways, Urban and Regional Areas, with a look at Federal, State and Local funding - Fixing Australia's Crumbling Highway's & Road Infrastructures. Savil Group - Construction Remediation Company Website: https://www.savilgroup.com.au Dimitri Livas - Speaker and Media Website: https://www.dimitrilivas.com

Broken Buildings Expert, Dimitri Livas explores level rail crossings in Victoria and around Australia, and the removal and updating of of these crossings for safer and more practical bridges and underground alternatives. Savil Group - Construction Remediation Company Website: https://www.savilgroup.com.au Dimitri Livas - Speaker and Media Website: https://www.dimitrilivas.com

Dimitri Livas discusses the current state of play at at Sydney's troubled Opal Tower? Can it be Fixed? What are the possible next steps in rectifying the defects in the design and construction of this 36 storey Broken Building? Savil Group - Construction Remediation Company Website: https://www.savilgroup.com.au Dimitri Livas - Speaker and Media Website: https://www.dimitrilivas.com

Dimitri Livas discusses the Fire at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris and explores if she can be saved and resurrected. Savil Group - Construction Remediation Company Website: https://www.savilgroup.com.au Dimitri Livas - Speaker and Media Website: https://www.dimitrilivas.com

It’s no secret that the Australian building industry is in strife, and the situation in the ACT is no different. Canberra faces the same problems as other Aussie states when it comes to dodgy builders, developers, and certifiers – and the trail of shoddy developments left in their wake. But experts have pointed the finger at the ACT government’s failure to enforce industry standards, saying this is one of the biggest reasons why the city of Canberra has suffered an outstanding number of defective buildings during its construction boom. In fact, the problem is so bad that the government launched a legislative inquiry into the quality of ACT buildings in April this year. So, what is the government going to do about it? Well the federal government has introduced reforms to the building industry, which are ever-so-slowly being rolled out across the states, But in a welcomed change the ACT Government seems to be leading the pack in strata-specific reforms, with a new package announced on Monday. ‘Managing Buildings Better’ is the name of the strata reforms package – which has taken nearly three years to put together. It attempts to offer more protection to buyers and owners corporations in strata plans, as well as business owners in mixed-use developments. Pet-owners are also offered a leg-up in the new package, which attempts to correct outdated legislation.