A third Sydney apartment block is under scrutiny over building and safety issues after it was revealed its residents were evacuated late last year.

The units at 19 Gadigal Avenue in Zetland, in Sydney’s inner south, were evacuated by the building owners in late 2018, according to City of Sydney.

Council staff who inspected the building in February “found the building to be vacant with extensive and severe water damage”, a spokesman says.

“The water damage caused the failure of the internal fire-rated construction throughout several apartments,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

“The fire-rated construction is required to separate individual apartments and common areas during a fire.”

Staff spoke with the building owner who had hired consultants to make the building habitable again, he said.

An order was issued to ensure the building was kept safe while vacant and City of Sydney will keep monitoring the situation.

The news follows the evacuation of Sydney Olympic Park’s Opal Tower on Christmas Eve and the Mascot Towers on Bourke Street in June as the NSW government scrambles to overhaul building standards.

The newly-built Opal Tower was evacuated after cracks in the building sparked fears it could collapse.

Remedial structural works are expected to be finished in early August, but some 63 apartments will be ready for re-occupation in mid-July, builder Icon said in a statement last week.

Residents of the 132 units in Mascot Towers, in the city’s south, remain unable to return to their complex.

It was evacuated in mid-June due to cracking in its primary support structure and facade masonry.

The minister responsible for building regulation Kevin Anderson is looking at reforms on the industry, with the government releasing a discussion paper in June.

He has been contacted for comment.

Source: AAP