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Some developers cutting corners while erecting high-rise buildings
– but City Council has too few inspectors to investigate
A senior official in the City Engineering Department believes that some property developers are flouting the Council’s new regulations which require that high-rise buildings are erected on foundations that can take the weight of these structures.
The Hill Street structure
But developers who try to cut corners may end up spending much more in the long run on repairs if the foundation proves to be inadequate, the official warned.
The source explained that last January, the Engineering Department made it mandatory that developers submit a geotechnical report to the Council before approval is granted for buildings of a certain height are erected. He explained that the report would state what type of soil is present at the construction site and the type of foundation that would be required to accommodate the structure.
But driving piles to strengthen a foundation can push building costs up “by a few million,” and the developer also has to take out insurance in the event of damage to nearby properties.
The Engineering Department official believes that many developers are going out of their way to avoid this additional expense. He said that some contractors do their construction at night when they know that City Hall inspectors have already finished working for the day.
These unscrupulous contractors and developers are also taking advantage of the fact that there are not enough inspectors to man all the wards in Georgetown. Kaieteur News was told that in some cases, one inspector has to man five city wards.
But the engineering official also blamed some contractors who, he claimed, would assure the developer that a less costly foundation would suffice in place of a more costly one. He warned that these developers stand to lose much more in the long run.
“If they boycott the process, the Council has the authority to take the structure down if it is a danger to life and limb. A lot of businessmen are running from this (extra cost) but it is more beneficial to them than to us in terms of cost benefits.”
This proved to be the case recently when Camex Restaurant Inc. Chief Executive Officer, Terrence Campbell, was forced to spend a further $30 M to strengthen the foundation of a four-storey property in Hill Street, Lodge after the building began to tilt.
Steel pipes that were driven into the earth around the Hill Street structure.
The building was erected last year, before the Council’s regulations requiring soil tests at construction sites came into effect.
Mr. Campbell had told Kaieteur News that the storage building will be underpinned by 52 steel piles, and concrete mixtures will be poured into the steel piles. The CEO of Camex noted that the lesson has been learnt at his expense and he is in full support of having a soil test done the next time he is undertaking construction of high rise buildings.
Campbell said that the building had ceased tilting in 2013 and at present “poses no threat to life or property.”
There are a number of other high-rise structures in the city that have tilted after the foundations proved to be inadequate.
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