Tuesday, April 02, 2013

CFMEU raises concerns over Swanston Street Wall hoarding

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) have raised concerns over the design and construction of the Swanston Street former CUB site.  The Unions concerns mirror those expressed express in this blog.

Questions are being asked if a planning and development permit had been issued by the City of Melbourne and the site inspected according to the Council's Local laws and guidelines on building and construction site safety.  According to the Councils published information a permit is required to construct hoardings  which should be renewed every 12 months.

It is believed that the hoarding which was fixed to the masonry wall may have contributed to the walls collapse.  The hoarding would have increased the effect of the wind loading in a levering action motion causing the wall to collapse.

The new hoarding, that was constructed in 2012, was taller than the permitted height of construction site hoardings and extended up to 600mm above the height of the lowest part of the masonry wall, well above the 2.4 meter height limit for building site hoardings.

This along with a 25 meter section of plywood hoarding connected to the left of the masonry wall are the prime suspects for the walls collapse which is under review.

No comments:

Post a Comment