Follow-up with causes of the Circuit House Road collapse in Bangladesh

Not long ago our structural collapse attorneys brought you the story of the partial collapse of a busy road in Bangladesh that endangered several nearby buildings. The endangered buildings included several residential high-rise towers whose residents suffered some moments of panic in the wake of the collapse.

The partial road collapse resulted from the failure of structural supports in an abutting foundation excavation for another high-rise. When the foundation excavation collapsed in upon itself, it brought part of the road down with it, as well as a nearby retaining wall. It placed at least one nearby building in imminent danger of collapse.

Authorities in Bangladesh have investigated the structural collapse and identified a number of causes:

• Violation of the building code;
• Faulty design and construction;
• Use of a single bracing instead of the pair of bracing suggested for the foundation excavation pilings;
• Anomalies in the approval and implementation process;
• The failed role of the Rajuk (building oversight commission) in the process;
• Illegal construction launched without the necessary structural engineering, inspection, and supervision of a designated architect; and
• Failure to abode by building rules. Those who sign the plans and building applications are supposed to oversee and take responsibility for the construction projects on which they sign off. But in this case, several people signed for the project that never intended any involvement with it, and there were some irregularities regarding the choice of signatories.

The Rajuk charged the site owner with violation of the terms of his building approval, lack of proper safety measures, and violation of the indemnity bond. But the Rajuk has also allowed the builder to re-commence construction after the accident. Our structural collapse attorneys think the move by the Rajuk to approve continued construction might be unwise. We hope that we are wrong and that no further structural collapses and injuries result from the building efforts at Circuit House Road.