I agree with the assessment that the corridor could have acted as a 'fire break' that kept the rest of the structure from following the collapse. Despite the cheesy support structure my money is still on the idea that somebody took out a vertical strut with an impact lower on the structure.Thanks to @MNicolai for the link to ENG-TIPS.com in post #19. Lots of great info even if much of it is written in Engineese.
One interesting idea put forward was this:
The city says they were never informed of any complaints.
More details emerged Saturday about the firms involved in taking the cranes down. Gov. John Bel Edwards' office said the lead contractors are D.H. Griffin Wrecking Co. of Greensboro, North Carolina, and Lemoine Disaster Recovery of Lafayette.
Controlled Demolition Inc. of Maryland is the explosives subcontractor, and the global firm Thornton Thomasetti is the engineering consulting subcontractor, according to the city.
Matthew Bloch, the governor's executive counsel, said that while the state signed the demolition contract, the $5 million cost of the demolition is being paid by the building's owners and insurers. But that contract covers only the cranes' demolition. The future of whatever parts of the crumpled building survive the cranes' fall has yet to be announced.
"Once the imminent peril of the cranes is resolved, the state will continue to work with all involved, including the city, NOFD and the State Fire Marshal, to evaluate the next steps," said Shauna Sanford, a spokeswoman for the governor.
The contract negotiations with the demolition companies appear to have been difficult. Bloch said they were ongoing as recently as Thursday — days after the companies arrived on the ground and a day before the demolition was first set to go off. The contract's effective date was Friday.
The demolition companies refused to contract directly with the building's owner and general contractor, according to Bloch.
Both the owner and the general contractor have already been slapped with several lawsuits and will likely face more as the days go by.
Sanford said it "became clear" that the demolition job couldn't happen without the state's involvement.
"However, the governor insisted that all of the costs be paid by those responsible for the construction and their insurers. Further, the building owner and contractor have been required to indemnify the state and the demolition contractors for this work," she said.
In a statement, Cantrell said the contract negotiations didn't contribute to the demolition delays.
"As we have seen, the dynamics of the situation have been fluid and evolving," she said. "My team has been involved and fully engaged in the conversation around liability and cost. We have worked around the clock to find solutions. This work has not contributed to delays or diverted from the stated priority of keeping the public safe during this trying time.”
City leaders first scheduled the controlled demolition for Friday, then canceled it. The operation was next supposed to go down on Saturday afternoon.
WWL-TV reported Saturday night that the hotel developers, a group led by Mohan Kailas, did not pay the $5 million demolition price until Saturday morning, causing the delay from Friday. The station said the demolition team required full payment in advance. A spokesman for the developers confirmed the money was paid Saturday morning but said the delays had nothing to do with the payment.
In my best Peter Lorry impersonation: "How very convenient".Oops:
Worker who survived hotel collapse deported
A construction worker hurt in last month’s collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel construction site in New Orleans was deported to Honduras on Friday.www.yahoo.com
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