The builders of luxurious Forrest apartments have lost an appeal in the ACT's highest court against a significant decision requiring developments to match their approved plans.
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B and T Constructions, which built the $30 million Empire Apartments complex in Forrest, was ordered by the ACT Planning and Land Authority to complete about $500,000 of remediation work for 40 discrepancies between the building and the original plan, ticked off in 2006.
The order was later affirmed by the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
B and T Constructions appealed to the ACT Supreme Court, a challenge that was dismissed by Justice John Burns in late 2013.
The decision bolstered the rights of home owners to seek rectification work for cases where there are perceived discrepancies between original plans and finished work.
It was hailed as a big win for owners, because it forced builders and developers to construct exactly what is on the approved plan.
The company's appeal was made only against three of the items it was ordered to work on, including its substitution of rendered finishes and painted fibre cement for the polished stone and aluminium facade.
The order also related to the substitution of the glass balustrades planned for the penthouse apartment balconies, and translucent glass inserts that were not constructed.
It took its appeal to the ACT Court of Appeal, where it was again dismissed on Monday.
The company had argued the Supreme Court had wrongly assumed there was evidence of loss and damage, misunderstood the proper role of public record, which in this case was constituted by the approved building plans.
It argued the court had wrongly assumed the body corporate, who first complained about the work to ACTPLA, represented individual unit owners, and erred in upholding the rectification order despite it not clearly specifying detail of the remediation work required.
The court dismissed the appeal and ordered the company pay court costs.
