I’ll paraphrase what happened…you can check the newspaper web site for details…
This past Wednesday, 12/4 about 8:30 am, a five story building facade in downtown San Antonio collapsed onto the sidewalk and street. Two people (contractors I think) injured slightly, all the windows on one side of a passing bus were broken. It was a 1900’s building, terra cotta and block. Was undegoing complete renovation to be a luxury hotel…all of the interior floors and walls were demo’d…the contractor had installed several structural steel braces to support the walls…one building on each side formed the side walls, the front and back walls were left standing, the front collapsed, the back will now be removed. No other buildings in the area were damaged, not even broken glass. The temporary braces were like those used for tilt-wall construction, but more complicated. The bracing had been designed by a professional structural engineer, reviewed by the city. As recently as 3-4 weeks ago the city had inspected the wall because a citizen complained that it looked dangerous…the city said it was ok. Now the fingerpointing begins. The contractor has hired a different structural engineer to determine what happened, the city has hired an engineer, OSHA has arrived on the scene. The local tv has contacted other “experts” to add validity to their news stories…one said that it’s obvious why it failed…the bracing was fastened to the wall with some type of expansion anchors, which resulted in point loads in terra cotta…should have been tied to bracing on both sides of the walls.
At least there were no serious injuries or deaths. What do you suppose is going to happen to the original engineers insurance premiums?
Replies
What insurance premiums lol, Probably be through the roof with a different company.
My question is why did they demo all the floors in the building and leave the facade, Historic value I am guessing?
> As recently as 3-4 weeks ago the city had inspected the wall because a citizen complained that it looked dangerous..
I'd like to find that citizen. Send him/her around to compare the gut feeling with engineering.... ;-)
-- J.S.
It would be interesting to see if the engineer had designed/specified the way the bracing was attached to the wall, AND IF the contractor followed his design. Oh, the lawyers will have a field day now.
The building was completely gutted because the interior was of little use. The front and back walls were indeed retained because of historic value. The complaining citizen was apparently a woman who either worked downtown or was in the area enough to see the building several times during renovation, and didn't like what she saw. Apparently the wall bracing was inspected more than once, including onece by the firmn that designed the bracing...they reported back that it was installed per their design, and that there was no risk of collapse. Oops. So far there has not been a report of why it collapsed...no high winds, no storms, no earthquakes. The collapse caused quite a bit of rumbling in the area, but the back wall stood ok. I'm sure the lawyers will try to get heavily involved, but for what purpose? No other buildings were damaged, I'm sure the contractor will pay to have the bus windows replaced, and other than two contractors, no one was injured. So the loss appears to be limited to a historic facade. Well, I guess the hotel developer will sue the engineer for loss of visual character or future income due to reduced appeal. But maybe they (the developer and contractor) have benefitted, because now they can build a hotel from the ground up without trying to incorporate the odd nuances of the facade...they can build a new wall to look like to the old one, with none of the inherent defects.
Edited 12/6/2002 9:31:09 PM ET by ELCID72
good point but the engineer should have inspected site for such a job, make sure the contractor was not reading the plans backwards or something, haha
Edited 12/7/2002 7:05:47 PM ET by Haole27
Similar buildings are demo'd like that in NYC every day. The problems with the old facades are that sometimes the lead paint is holding them in place. Even if the PE inspected the site before designing the bracing system, the problems would not be obvious without a detailed inspection, and the developers NEVER opt to pay for them. It is amazing that facade collapses do not actually happen more often. When I rented a floor in a Brooklyn row house, a house across the street lost it's facade due to underground erosion from a leaking watermain. The residents were sitting at dinner and the wall fell away from them....that's not a mistake, it's rustic
Anybody want to bet on whether or not they now need different permits for building new, instead of renovations to existing building? That is going to be some change order, I think! Glad to hear that injuries were limited to two, sounds like it could have been way worse. lawyers going to be busy now, longer to place the blame than to build the new building once they can start. Any publicity is good publicity, right?
Dan
City Council was talking the next day about how the renovation permit process was going to be tightened. Of course, this is the same city council where two of eleven current members were indicted in November on state and federal bribery charges.
I stand corrected on the injuries: one construction worker slightly injured, released the same day. One pedestrian seriously injured...broken back, leg, shoulder and ribs. He had just been fired thatv morning from his job as a magazine packer at a news group for being habitually late, was walking to his mothers office to talk with her, boom! ruined his day. No insurance, but the lawyer for the family said "his hospital bills will be taken care of by the responsible party". You can bet on that. Wonder how much of the settlement the lawyer will get?
I bet the developer found the secret nail and pulled it out so the front will crumble so they don't need to fool around with building . Was it one of these building on the national register.
Not on the natioanl register, just old. It was built in 1900 as a harness and saddle factory. FWIW the gc on the job has a good reputation here, decent size, not one that would normally ignore structural issues or cut corners.