The demolition of the building that collapsed in Philadelphia had been “approved” (via):
Marinakos had signed off on demoltion permits to take down the Market Street structure which directly abutted a Salvation Army Thrift store. The building collapsed mid-demolition, trapping people in the adjacent store under debris. A spokesmen for Marinakos said the architect had served as only as an expediter for the city permitting process and had apparently never actually seen any blueprints for the demolition plan he endorsed.
Mr. Marinakos, reached at his office in the Spring Garden neighborhood, said he “couldn’t talk right now”.
There was a similar situation this week in Rochester. Two structurally unsound buildings were being demolished, and in the process another building, which housed a neighborhood landmark restaurant, was made unsound and also had to be demolished. Luckily, nobody was killed here. There are 6 dead so far in Philly.
Mike in NC
Too busy scarfing down the caviar and Champagne?
OzarkHillbilly
Just one of the many benefits of privatizing government services.
celcus
The Architect is contractually and legally not responsible for what is called “means and methods”. Temporary supports, bracing, scaffolding as well as the procedures used are wholly the responsibility of the general contractor. Architect’s and Engineer’s drawings and specifications provide the information of what to build, The Contractor is responsible for how to build it. In a full building demolition there virtually nothing that the Architect would be responsible for.
A “professional of record” can be required on permit applications as a matter of course, but not in all jurisdictions. In the area where I work a General Contractor can apply and apply for a demolition permit without a professional of record.
As for plans, full building demolitions rarely have any plans drawn, and those would typically only be site plan to show access, lines of protection and where debris is to be placed, and possibly existing floor plans just to explain the extent of the work to the permitting department.
brendancalling
As a longtime resident of Philadelphia, this is not surprising in the least. Nor will I be surprised when nothing at all is done to prevent this from happening again. It’s how we roll here.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mike in NC: No. He had his lawyer on the other line.
Amir Khalid
Interesting point made by the first commenter under the cited story:
I wonder if the architect is facing any kind of professional sanction.
ETA: Bolding by me.
strandedvandal
Why would they allow people into the building next to it while it is being torn down? That just seems nutty.
PaulW
This is sickening. Someone, maybe more than just one person, royally screwed up and has to answer for this.
Mark S.
@strandedvandal:
It seems insane to me as well. Shouldn’t the block be closed down while this is going on?
The Raven on the Hill
That architect is so going to lose his license. With luck he will also face charges.
Architects have to intern before they can be licensed. I wonder how his mentors at KPF are feeling now?
The Raven on the Hill
@Amir Khalid: it depends on the state board. By rights, his license should be pulled and he should be charged, but Penn. is notorious for corruption. I can tell you that I don’t know any architects who wouldn’t revile him. You do not seal documents where you don’t know the content.
RSR
huge trove of info and background on the Philadelphia situation here:
http://www.philadelinquency.com/?p=2738 – [with video of work at site before collapse] BREAKING: 311 CALL COMPLAINING ABOUT CONSTRUCTION SITE WAS MADE BEFORE COLLAPSE
http://www.philadelinquency.com/?p=2733 – Death Demo Contractor Had House Taken Away By DA For Drug Dealing
http://www.philadelinquency.com/?p=2698 – Center City Collapse: SIX NOW CONFIRMED DEAD – DEMO CONTRACTOR HAD CRIMINAL RECORD (UPDATE 11)
oakdale
you guys are barking up the wrong tree, celcus is right, the architect doesn’t bear any responsibility for this. He will probably be sued, the lawyers will sue in all directions to try to hit someone, but it’s the contractor’s responsibility to ensure safety on the construction site. Architectural plans for demolition just basically show what to remove, not details on how to do it.
The Raven on the Hill
It is also the architect’s job to observe the implementation of their plans, and report irregularities to the owner, who in turn is responsible for directing the contractor. So, who is liable depends on who has done what. Dare we hope that the slumlord owner will be charged?
Linda Featheringill
That whole story is very sad. Lots of incompetence all around, and perhaps criminal neglect. Six dead and another handful injured.
My sympathies to their loved ones on their loss. It was needless. It was senseless. There is no comfort.
RSR
@Mark S.: see the first link I postted in comment #12…The city gave the run around to calls regarding safety because someone had the address a couple doors off.
(Meanwhile, the city managed to fine me for a violation that’s not occurring on my property, and they have the address completely wrong. Someone even came out to check it in person, and the contractor next door to us told him the correct address and they still couldn’t get it right! Seems some wrong addresses are more politically connected than others. But of course, this is nothing more than a minor hassle for us compared to what happened downtown.)
brendancalling
@PaulW: No, nothing will happen. This is status quo in the Philadelphia. Long-time architectural critic at the Inquirer gets it EXACTLY right (I can’t figure out the blockquote tag, so I’m using italics instead)
“[T]he tragedies reveal the city's inability to enforce basic building safety. And it's not just the Nutter administration. For more than 30 years, every mayor – Street, Rendell, Goode, Green – has exhibited a stunningly high level of tolerance for the blight the two men wrought…After the tragedy, the Department of Licenses and Inspections promptly announced it was launching an investigation into the condition of the estate's hundreds of properties. We heard similar promises a year ago, after a blaze in a neglected Kensington mill owned by the Lichtenstein family claimed two firefighters' lives. Want to bet we'll hear the same clarion call again this week?”
The only thing I would correct in the article is the word “inability”. “Refusal” is more apt. And keep reading: the building’s now-deceased owner had something like 200 violations, but still got city assistance to buy buildings (and of course made generous political contributions). We are plagued with vacant properties, and in many cases, the buildings have been abandoned for so long, no one knows who owns them. People don’t pay their property taxes and the city does nothing.
This is just a fact. Oh sure, people will howl for a week or two, and then it’s on to the next thing. No one, certainly no one with power to do anything, cares unless there’s a kickback or a bribe involved. It’s how we roll in Philly: corrupt and contented.
brendancalling
@RSR: Philadelinquency is an EXCELLENT source of information for what goes down in Philly Real Estate.
gene108
@brendancalling:
There were some prosecutions on the club/dock/pier collapse, into Delaware River, years and years ago. I don’t recall if building codes changed because of the dock/pier collapse, but I do believe some “heads rolled”.
So maybe something might happen, but I hear you, moving the city machine to change is damn near impossible.
maya
Philly’s problems with construction all started with this.
brendancalling
@gene108: “Two businessmen were sentenced Friday to house arrest for ignoring the signs that a pier under a waterfront nightclub was about to collapse seven years ago, killing three patrons and injuring dozens more.
Pier owner Michael Asbell was sentenced to 11 to 22 months of house arrest plus probation and Eli Karetny, operator of the Heat nightclub, was sentenced to nine to 18 months of house arrest followed by probation.”
This is what constituted “heads rolling”. Less than two years of confinement at home, 1,000 hours of community service, and probation.
All due respect to a fellow Urban Hellhole dweller, but I’m gonna stick with “nothing’s gonna change.” Rollin’ Philly-style, yo!!!
Southern Beale
We had a similar situation here in Nashville. One of the demo crew was killed. Actually what happened was, the demo crew was preparing to take the building down, they were actually on site, and the building collapsed — I think someone was using a piece of equipment improperly or something like that, I don’t really know the details.
Anyway, the bottom line is: demolition isn’t as easy as a lot of folks think it is.
Badmoodman
If the building adjacent to the one you’re standing in is being demolished, why the hell are you still standing there? Failures all around.
HelloRochester
Oh, sad about Critics. My mom’s first job was at Critics back in the late ’60s. They used to make a killer Reuben.
Seanly
@oakdale:
Yup. This is what will happen. There will also be lots of countersuits – like the contractor suing the architect because the plans weren’t adequate.
I’ve done staged demolition on bridges (happens if you need to still use 2 lanes on the old bridge while you build part of the new one). The contract plans (those prepared by the engineer) show the gist of what will happen. Some key dimensions, notes & call-outs for items to be removed in a certain way or left in place, etc. The contractor prepares more detailed working drawings. If we’re paid to review those, I do look at them for conformance with the contract plans.
Saying “I signed the plans but didn’t look at them” makes the opposing lawyers job a lot easier whether the architect had any responsibility or not.
Villago Delenda Est
If there was ever an example of “depraved indifference”, this Marinakos asshole just displayed it.
Put him in prison.
Villago Delenda Est
@brendancalling:
Bullshit.
Those two assholes should have gone up the river in the classical sense. This “house arrest” bullshit is bullshit.
These men are criminals who have displayed, again, depraved indifference. They need to be punished, and they need to be made examples of.
daverave
@celcus:
I’m with celcus on this one… this kind of work is not typically something that an architect has much responsibility for as they are not trained or licensed to be involved with demolition. A structural engineer perhaps but again it comes back to means and methods that the contractor is using. An architect would only show what was to be removed, not how to do it. Obviously having occupants remaining in adjacent buildings was negligent.
The architect has opened himself up to legal repercussions by saying that he hadn’t looked at the plans that he was expediting especially if he signed/stamped someone else’s work but the reports are not clear on that aspect. He may have just been shepherding the plans through a probably perfunctory counter review of the demolition and was hired because he had contacts at the building department that could help speed that along. Regardless of his level of responsibility, he will inevitably be sued.
brendancalling
@Villago Delenda Est: But they never will be. Because that’s how we roll here.
Ask me about the violent crime. Or the way the city’s closing 23 schools and spending $400 million on a prison.
JoyfulA
@The Raven on the Hill: PA hardly ever punishes professionals. To my dismay, the state doesn’t even license trades; anyone can declare herself an electrician and go into business.
JoyfulA
@brendancalling: What cracked me up the other day is all the charter schools that owe the city (that pays them) money.
Maude
@JoyfulA:
And isn’t that scary to have an idiot do electrical work. The trades are licensed here in NJ, but a lot of general contractors do electrical and plumbing work. I know this because it has been done a lot in my building.
brendancalling
@JoyfulA: or the way everyone is upset that Nutter has been almost thoroughly absent from the schools crisis, but no one seems to notice his wife is all about the charter schools. Funny, that.
The Raven on the Hill
May we hope that, at least, the families of the people who died sue the owner?
The architect at least has the legal responsibility of observing the work in progress.
Far as I am concerned, the owner, general contractor, architect, and any engineer whose stamp is on the drawings ought to be charged with negligent manslaughter. Let the courts sort the mess out.
suzanne
Thanks for the reminder that taking all these damn exqams to get my architectural license will just be OH SO WORTH IT!!!
However, my seal goes in a drawer. With a lock.
suzanne
@The Raven on the Hill: It is also the architect’s job to observe the implementation of their plans, and report irregularities to the owner, who in turn is responsible for directing the contractor.
However, the architect only needs to make two actual *inspections*, and it’s only to see that the construction matches the contract documents, not for means and methods.
This really is the contractor’s fault, though any architect to lets his seal be used without his review is dumber than shit. My boss goes through my work with a fine-tooth comb. As he should.
The Raven on the Hill
@suzanne: keep it up—the license is worth it, despite the liabilities that come with it.
I am not so sure, however, that Marinakos would be held blameless by either a court or an honest licensing board. He has a responsibility to report safety violations, even if he is not legally responsible for them. He also failed of his professional responsibilities by stamping documents he hadn’t reviewed.
Now, if his slumlord client went to jail over this, wouldn’t that be grand? But the chances seem slim.
Cygil
The article is misleading. Architects have no role in signing off on demolition plans. This is the responsibility of specialist Demolition Engineers. The demolition engineers are the people to focus on here.