I warned mall about dangerous cracks

i warned mall about dangerous cracks

engineers approached management when they saw defects in parking lot’s concrete

the mall @ carnival, where a brick wall collapsed and killed three people, was warned months ago about “serious structural defects” to the building.

two civil engineers approached the management of the mall, in brakpan on the east rand, to raise the alarm about cracks in concrete support columns and slabs in the mall’s underground parking bay.

on saturday, 34-year-old liza van zyl, her mother elize botha, 52, and botha’s grandson shaun, 13, were crushed to death when a parapet wall erected above the roof line of the mall collapsed onto their car.

van zyl’s eight-month-old baby daughter, lizandre, and son from a previous marriage, eddie blignaut, 12, survived the accident.

kevin owen, who has been a civil engineer for 28 years, told the times that he and a business partner, who does not wish to be named, became concerned when they saw structural defects at the mall.

he said: “my partner noticed the defects in the underground bay first and asked me to go with him for a second opinion.

“we could see the slabs of concrete had settled and the columns were cracking to the extent that the steel reinforcing was visible.

“it was a sign something was seriously wrong.”

owen said as “responsible engineers” they had felt obliged to approach the management of the mall with their concerns.

“in our opinion they had a serious problem on their hands.”

but the management of the mall was dismissive, owen said.

“we were basically chucked out and told it had nothing to do with us. we were told the mall’s own team had it covered”.

owen said there were a number of possible explanations for the defects, but that their major concern had been that there was clearly “the potential for a major accident.”

the fact that the parapet wall that collapsed during saturday’s severe storm was not near the underground parking bay that owen and his partner inspected was of little consequence, owen said.

“we identified a problem area and it is possible other areas of the building also had defects.”

he said when he heard on saturday that a wall at the mall had collapsed, his first thought had been: “we told you so.”

tony kyriazis, the general manager of anaprop property management, which owns the mall, confirmed that the company was aware that a civil engineer had approached the mall management with concerns about the underground parking lot.

kyriazis said the mall’s management team had acted on the information by asking for an investigation by the company’s engineers.

he said: “the conclusion of the investigation was that the underground parking is structurally sound and the movement joints cause the plaster to crack due to plaster not being cut into the movement joints properly.”

kyriazis said the engineers had investigated the “cracks” in the suspended slab.

“they concluded that shrinkage cracks were evident, which was normal for the settlement of the suspended slab.

“the engineers further concluded that the suspended slab was safe,” he said.

owen’s response to kyriazis’s explanation, was emphatic: “nonsense. as concrete dries it shrinks and you get hairline cracks.

“those were not shrinkage cracks, they were severe structural cracks that could become worse.

“what we saw was an accident waiting for a place to happen,” owen insisted.

but kyriazis said the mall has been declared safe since saturday’s accident.

“the engineering council of south africa and the department of labour examined the building on monday and they have supported the engineer’s findings,” he said.

ý the funeral of all three people killed in the tragedy will take place in springs today.

andre van zyl, whose wife, liza, died, said his 12-year-old stepson, eddie blignaut, is still under sedation in hospital.

he said his baby daughter, lizandre, who was rescued from the wreckage by car by guards, was at home and “doing fine”.