The real reason why Seaforth tower blocks failed to come down.
Contractor J. Bryan (Victoria) stared the New Year on a positive note, announcing on 1 January 2017 that the Health and Safety Executive said the company had no case to answer following the stand-up of two tower blocks back in April of last year.
Now the reason for the failed implosion has been revealed, further exonerating the contractor.
The Health and Safety Executive has now released the investigation reports following a Freedom of Information Act request.
The report, titled ‘Failed Demolition of Churchill and Montgomery house in Seaforth,’ reads: “There are around 12 concrete columns around the exterior of the building with re-bar embedded and faced with brick. During the structural investigation prior to the blow down these columns were drilled into but it was not possible to drill them completely through.
“As a result they were drilled at 45 degrees to each other. We were told that nothing untoward was found at this time. When the first building eventually fell they found these concrete columns in the rubble and discovered that buried 8 inches into the column was a 4 inch steel pipe, 15 to 20mm thick and full of concrete. The pipe did not go into the ground directly but it was not possible to establish how far from the ground they finished.
“When the ground floor explosions occurred it appears that the building simply “sat down” on these columns and stayed there. The problem is the lack of information which has been made available to the Principal Contractor and his specialists.”
Read more here.
