By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HYDE PARK - A pre-construction soils report prepared for Summit Country Day School warned that foundations in the 114-year-old main building needed extra support during construction of an adjacent building.

ENGINEERS HIRED

Summit Country Day School has hired two independent engineering firms - Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. of Chicago, and THP Limited Inc. of Cincinnati - to assess structural engineering issues related to Sunday's collapse. Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates is an internationally known engineering firm, expert in structural engineering issues. The company was involved in the stabilization of the World Trade Center after the 1993 car bomb incident. THP, with more than 30 years' experience in Cincinnati, is known for work on Great American Ball Park, the Aronoff Center and the Contemporary Arts Center

INFOGRAPHIC

• What caused the collapse (PDF document)

If recommendations in the report had been heeded, a city building official said Wednesday, the collapse of three stories in the school's main building might have been avoided.

The February 2003 report, released Wednesday to the Enquirer after a public records request to the city's building department, warned that foundations "must be constructed such that undermining of adjacent footings and/or lateral loading of adjacent footings located at different elevations be avoided."

That means the existing foundation required additional lateral support, explained Bill Langevin, director of the city's buildings and inspections department. Because of the existence of the surrounding foundations, great care must be exercised when excavating next to them, he said.

"Typically, you wouldn't see that strong of a warning or advice or suggestion made in a soils report," Langevin said. "But in this case, it was because they are building up against foundations that are over 100 years old."

Damage to the building is expected to be in the millions of dollars. A 30- to 45-foot portion of the main building collapsed Sunday morning, toppling three stories and leaving the fourth story buckled and the roof suspended. No one was hurt because the 1,100-student school was closed.

Officials with the contractor, Turner Construction Co., which has dozens of subcontractors on the project, have referred repeated requests for comment to the school, saying Summit officials have instructed them to do so.

Joseph T. Devlin, head of school, said he wouldn't comment on the soils report until engineers hired by the school determine what happened.

The engineers also will reaffirm the structural integrity of all school buildings; they have determined the main building is structurally sound.

"The soils report is one of the causes we are investigating," Devlin said. "Our engineers are looking at any number of factors, and the soils report certainly is one of them.''

Meanwhile, the collapsed portion of the main building will be removed as soon as possible, Langevin said.

The damaged section is adjacent to an $11 million construction project for a new Lower School for Montessori and elementary students.

In a preliminary assessment this week, Langevin said excavation for the project was too deep and too close to the existing foundation. The depth of the existing foundation is not known.

Bad weather and a previously undetected difference in the depth of foundations of the portion of the building that collapsed likely contributed to the failure, Langevin said..

The report, prepared by Alt & Witzig Engineering Inc. of Cincinnati, recommended that "all foundation excavations be inspected by a representative of the soil engineer to assure that adequate bearing soils exist in the base of all footings."

"Adequate provisions for supporting the existing foundations next to excavated areas was not provided in accordance with the soils report, and that contributed to the foundation failure," Langevin explained.

"The soils report underscored the risk of excavating adjacent to the existing foundation without underpinning, or otherwise supporting, the existing foundation," Langevin said.

The city inspected the construction site at Summit about once a week, Langevin has said. But Summit was required by the city to have engineers on site monitor excavation and foundation work. The city relied on those engineers to report problems, he said, but none was conveyed.

The soils report is often required by state building code, depending on the complexity of the project, Langevin said.

For this project, a soils investigation was required, Langevin said. It's expected contractors would follow it "unless they have a valid engineering issue," Langevin said, adding that no such issue was evident.

The president of a Blue Ash structural engineering firm said such reports usually are followed.

"The whole reason why you pay geotechnical engineers to give you opinions on what you should do is so you know the best route to take," said Kip Ping of Pinnacle Engineering Inc., which works on small- to medium-size projects.

"It would be unusual to pay a geotechnical engineer, get advice on what should be done and then ignore it."

Turner has an excellent safety record among its 45 offices, a company spokeswoman from Turner's New York City office said Wednesday.

In February 2003, Turner Construction's Cincinnati office, downtown, became the first national builder to receive the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's highest honor.

But in December, Turner's Greenwich, Conn., office was ordered to pay a $2,000 federal fine after it was found to be in "serious" violation after two inspections at a Greenwich job site, federal records show.

Classes for all students have been canceled through at least Friday.

Devlin said grades 4-8 are expected to resume classes early next week in the Harold C. Schott Middle School Building, which is separate from the damaged structure.

Officials are still trying to find a site for Montessori students, third-graders and high schoolers. It is likely the Montessori program will spend the remainder of the school year off campus, Devlin said.

Todd Witt of Hyde Park says he has "no qualms" about allowing his daughter, Natalie, 14, to return to the middle school because it is a new building that is not connected to the main one.

"Look, it happened. It was the best of a worst situation because no one was in there when it collapsed, and now there is an opportunity to go forward," Witt said.

Enquirer reporter James McNair contributed to this story. E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com.