An expansive park built above Rozelle’s multibillion-dollar spaghetti junction interchange has been closed after asbestos was found in garden mulch around a children’s playground – with the contractor involved confirming the mulch was also used elsewhere in Sydney.
An urgent audit was under way to determine what other sites could be affected by what the premier, Chris Minns, described as “a toxic substance”.
The government closed the Rozelle parklands to the public and called in contamination experts just three weeks after the park opened above the interchange.
John Holland built the interchange and the park. One of its executives, Mark Davies, on Wednesday said he could not immediately disclose a list of the other sites where the mulch had been used.
“Some of the projects may well not be John Holland … projects,” he told reporters. “We’re working with relevant authorities and the supplier to identify the list at the moment.”
The asbestos was detected in two samples of garden mulch taken from the Rozelle parklands and was only discovered after it was reported by a parent whose child had brought it home from the playground.
Davies said it was “very concerning” that a child had come into contact with asbestos but he insisted John Holland had carried out thorough testing during the construction process.
The premier said the government needed to know where potentially contaminated mulch had been used “as soon as possible” so it could close the other sites.
“I realise that is massively inconvenient during the school holidays … but we can’t muck around with safety – this is obviously a toxic substance,” Minns said.
The state roads minister, John Graham, said the government had been advised the asbestos found at the Rozelle parklands was “low risk” because it was non-friable and air monitoring had not shown any anomalies.
The Inner West mayor, Darcy Byrne, said the council had been informed about the contamination around the children’s play area on Wednesday morning.
“As a parent whose children have been playing there myself, I understand how concerning this will be for many thousands of local people,” Byrne said.
“It is beyond belief that such a long-awaited community facility has been opened with asbestos-contaminated materials contained within it.
“There must be a thorough investigation about how asbestos-contaminated material ended up within the park.”
Byrne said the council had written to the department to insist on “urgent and immediate testing of the entire site” and remediation.
Transport for NSW (TfNSW) was working with contamination experts, NSW Health, SafeWork and the Environmental Protection Authority, as well as John Holland to understand if the garden product had been used elsewhere.
“Remediation experts are currently on site conducting tests of the material across the parkland to determine the extent of contamination,” a TfNSW spokesperson said.
“Initial advice from an occupational hygienist who tested samples taken at the site yesterday found bonded asbestos in two samples.”
The nearly 10 hectares of green space includes extensive cycleways and green expanses alongside large exhaust stacks for the tunnels below.
Air quality testing was undertaken at the site on Tuesday and there were no particles found “outside of normal expected parameters”.
“The initial expert advice indicates that the sample identified which contained asbestos was considered low risk,” the department spokesperson said.
The mulch at Rozelle was being replaced and the department promised to update the community as soon as possible.
The parkland was meant to appease inner west residents who had put up with years of tunnelling noises and road closures during the construction of the Rozelle interchange.
The junction caused traffic chaos for weeks after it opened, prompting the government to carry out emergency works in early December to add a second lane to part of the interchange to ease congestion.
