Building officials of Miami-Dade County suspect deferred maintenance rather than weak building codes or an inadequate 40-year recertification process required by the county was the likely reason for the June 24 building failure in Surfside, Fla. The partial collapse of the 40-year-old Champlain Towers South residential condominium caused at least 98 fatalities.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology team has collected more than 200 building elements while refining its procedures for evidence identification.
When news came of the collapse of the Champlain Towers residential high-rise in Surfside, Fla., Pouria Ghods thought back to another fatal collapse, almost exactly nine years earlier at the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake, Ontario.
Knowing when a building is structurally deteriorating, and actually doing something about it can be very different things, as the collapse in Surfside, Fla., has shown this month.
One of the deadliest accidental building collapses in U.S. history is causing state elected officials, buildings officials, industry groups and others to reassess older buildings and consider the need for stricter regulations and enhanced inspection standards.
The implosion consultant observed notable differences between the structure as built and one set of 1979 building plans provided by Surfside, Fla., officials.
Search and rescue operations ceased on July 3 so that crews could prepare to raze, using charges, the damaged wing of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South condominium.