Crownview a 'high risk' project: Building Commission

There have been a regular stream of defects discovered at the Crown Street towers and Assistant Building Commissioner Matt Press said there was no intention of stopping the inspection work.

"We'll continue to have a presence on that site," Mr Press said.

"It is high-risk, it is riskier than others. We'll keep making sure that we've got a continued presence and monitoring until it's back on track and I'd be hopeful we could get there soon."

Mr Press said there was the possibility that the development will one day see people able to move in.

"Look, we hope it will be - but we're not going to do that sacrificing quality," Mr Press said.

"As you know, it's taken a long time to get that building up to speed - something like nine months for the builders to make it safe and in a state where we could be in a position to go forward.

"Where it goes from here is a matter for the developer, and then we're going to make sure that when they do start it's safe and compliant, that's our role."

However, Mr Press said there wasn't an unusually high amount of problem buildings in the Illawarra.

"I think the issues in the Illawarra are proportionate to its construction activity," Mr Press said.

"If we compare it to the Central Coast, probably a comparable region, the Illawarra region is going to have twice the amount of residential construction over the next five years compared to the Central Coast.

"There are risky players all over the state. We've got our data intelligence to know exactly where they are and with this regional presence [of a Wollongong office], we can make sure that we're there more regularly and we've got eyes and ears on the ground so that they're right in the face of problems and not getting these through complaints and referrals."