Wide cracks and signs of sinking have appeared in the facade of a townhouse under renovation in Newcastle, north of Sydney with Fire and Rescue NSW establishing an exclusion zone around the area.
The townhouse on Elizabeth Street, Tighes Hill sustained substantial structural damage at about 8:00am today.
"It's quite a nice old building … it looks like it's just coming apart," said local resident Murray Love.
Deep cracks several centimetres wide on the building's exterior stretch several metres from the roof to its lower floor windows.
The home's roof has also visibly sagged at its right corner, however, authorities on site have been unable to confirm the extent of the sinking.
Fire and Rescue NSW leading officer at Lambton fire station Peter Curzi says the situation is "stable", an exclusion zone has been established.
"We've got monitoring laser equipment that Fire and Rescue have set up to monitor the situation," he said.
No one was inside the building and there have been no injuries.
People advised to avoid area
Chief Inspector Paul Johnson from Newcastle City Police District says four properties on the street have been evacuated.
"At this point in time it would be appreciated if people could avoid the area, we have exclusion zones in place to keep people out of the area," he said.
"From a traffic and pedestrian perspective we ask people to avoid the area."
Mr Curzi says the owners of the property are currently renovating.
"The plan going forward will be to shore up the structure with the advice of structural engineers," Mr Curzi said.
"The plan is to stabilise the structure — whether to use support or remove the unstable parts of the building."
