“Recent work indicates that it is MORE LIKELY that the failure started in a pool deck slab-column connection than we considered in June,” the presentation slides stated.
Champlain Towers South was an oceanfront complex just north of the Miami Beach city line.
The exact cause of the collapse has been under investigation in the years since the incident, but investigators have long focused part of their attention on the pool deck.
Officials noted in their presentation that issues with the pool deck existed from the time Champlain Towers South was built more than four decades ago.
“The structure had low resistance to progressive collapse, allowing the collapse of the pool deck to spread into and throughout the middle and east parts of the tower,” the slides added.
More than four years after the 98-person Champlain Towers South condominium complex collapse in Surfside, Florida, federal investigators on Tuesday shared their initial conclusions about what caused the tragedy.
A leak from the ceiling, a stuck gate door, and a vertical shift involving a gate were among the potential problems near the pool deck in the hours, days, and weeks preceding the June 2021 collapse, according to members of the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Advisory Committee.
The presentation slides said, “Recent work indicates that it is MORE LIKELY that the failure started in a pool deck slab-column connection than we considered in June.”.
During the meeting, Associate Lead Investigator Glenn Bell admitted that the investigation has been challenging due to “quite extensive issues with the building, both in design and construction.”. “.”.
Bell clarified, “Many of the very difficult tasks of enacting change are still ahead of us, but our team has worked tirelessly to find the causes of this disaster and we are on the home stretch.”.
Martin Langesfeld, whose sister and brother-in-law perished in the building collapse, told committee members Tuesday afternoon that the tragedy’s investigation has been taking too long.
“For four years… 98 people are dead. Despite spending almost $40 million in taxes, we still lack accountability and answers. Langesfeld stated over Zoom, “That ought to be the headline in the media.
The oceanfront complex known as Champlain Towers South was located just north of the Miami Beach city line. 98 people were killed when the structure collapsed in the middle of the night on June 24, 2021.
Prior to the hearing on Tuesday, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s researchers released a presentation in which they preliminary concluded that the pool deck began to collapse more than seven minutes before the building collapsed. The presentation supported the suggestions made in previous press releases.
Although the cause of the collapse has been investigated in the years since it happened, the pool deck has long been a focus of the investigation.
The presentation notes that “the slab-column connections on the pool deck had critically low margins of safety at the time of the failure.”. “Misplaced slab reinforcement and inadequate design strength were primarily responsible for the extremely low margins of safety. “.”.
During their presentation, officials pointed out that problems with the pool deck had existed since the construction of Champlain Towers South over 40 years ago.
According to the slides, “the structure had low resistance to progressive collapse, allowing the pool deck collapse to spread into and throughout the middle and east parts of the tower.”.
The federal investigation into the collapse has experienced multiple delays. The 2025 completion date of the final investigative report was originally anticipated, but it has since been postponed by one year.
Langesfeld told the committee, “Families are still waiting for answers, accountability, and actionable safety recommendations.”.
