Agency investigating Surfside collapse says on-site work may be done in a ‘few’ weeks
It may take years for the federal agency investigating the Surfside condo collapse to determine the cause of the June 24 building failure, but the National Institute of Standards and Technology now says it expects to complete all on-site sampling and testing at the Champlain Towers South condo property in the next “few weeks.”
The agency, which launched its investigation June 30, said Wednesday that investigators will study the integrity of the foundation, the strength of the materials used to support the building and the conditions of the soil and rock below where the 12-story condo once stood.
The collapse killed 98 people in one of the deadliest building failures in the nation’s history. The NIST has federal authority to investigate building failures.
“The fieldwork is expected to be finished within a few weeks, assuming no major interruptions on the site,” the agency explained in a press release.
That work includes testing the integrity of the building’s below-ground structure and monitoring the groundwater, according to the press release. Investigators are also testing the above-ground components of the building, such as columns, that authorities have removed from the collapse site, a spokeswoman said.
The fieldwork and laboratory testing is only part of the investigation..
“The NIST field and laboratory testing will be augmented by a review of historic, geologic, design and construction information to characterize the below-ground site conditions, examine any potential geo-hazards, and generate engineering parameters for the modeling of the building to investigate the causes of the collapse,” the agency’s press release said.
The announced timeline may mean that NIST investigators will be finished with the site around the same time that Miami-Dade County turns over possession of the property to a court-appointed receiver for the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association.
An attorney for the receiver said at a Wednesday court hearing as part of a class action lawsuit that the county will hand over the site in about four to five weeks, at which point other interested parties — such as the town of Surfside and other potential defendants in the lawsuit — may begin their own inspections of the site.
Surfside, which hired a consulting engineer in late June to investigate the collapse, has repeatedly pleaded with the county for immediate access to the site to more quickly determine what caused the collapse. Town officials believe figuring out what went wrong at Champlain South is key to determining if the nearly identical “sister” building two properties away, called Champlain Towers North, is in danger of failure as well.
Allyn Kilsheimer, the engineer hired by Surfside, said after reviewing the NIST press release that his team plans to conduct more extensive sampling and testing at the collapse site than what NIST detailed.
“We want to do much more testing than that,” he said.
The Surfside Commission on Tuesday directed Town Attorney Lillian Arango to “assert the town’s right” to get access to the site in the town’s authority over life-safety building issues.
“We are the municipality that is duty-bound to serve our residents and protect their safety,” Mayor Charles Burkett said after Wednesday’s hearing. “We intend to vigorously undertake that effort.”
This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 3:54 PM.
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