Fingers Pointed In Center Mishap

Just a day short of the one-year anniversary of the collapse at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh that caused multiple show site changes and delays, officials released a report citing structural flaws as the reason for the accident.

On Feb. 5, 2007, a 20'x60' concrete slab in a second-floor loading dock collapsed, causing a 48-ft. truck to fall in a hole, leaving it suspended over a gaping hole and shutting down activities at the convention center for a month.

Cleveland-based Wiss, Janney, Elstner Assoc., an engineering firm hired by the Sports & Exhibition Authority to investigate the collapse, found that a connection used to attach a support beam to an expansion joint was inadequate. The combination of the weak connection, cold weather and weight of the truck caused the beam to give way. The driver of the truck, a Freeman employee, suffered minor injuries.

Four million dollars, a few relocated and postponed shows (including the 2007 Pittsburgh Intl. Auto Show), two in-depth assessments of the building and 50 modified support beams later, the David L. Lawrence is back on its feet, according to Mary Conturo, executive director of the Sports & Exhibition Authority, which owns the SMG-managed center.

Wiss, Janney, Elstner “considers the building safe for occupancy,” she said.

Joe McGrath, president and CEO of VisitPittsburgh, the city's convention and visitors bureau, said he was not an engineer and had to go by the report's findings that the building was structurally sound. “The city and the authority and ourselves would not take a chance on our customers,” he added. “There's no coming back from that.”

Now that the report has officially deemed the building safe, the question is: Who is responsible for the $4 million in losses that Conturo said resulted from business interruption and repairs? Local news reports said the authority was seeking to recoup the money that wasn't covered by insurance, $2 million, from Rafael Vinoly Architects, which designed the center, and ADF Intl., a Canada-based steel contractor.

However, following those news reports in Pittsburgh, the architectural firm denied it was to blame. In a statement to the press, Rafael Vinoly Architects said, “A report commissioned by the authority and released yesterday by the engineering firm of Wiss, Janney, Elstner Assoc. confirms that the causes of the collapse were unrelated to the work of Rafael Vinoly Architects.”

The press release went on to say, “Statements to the press by individuals affiliated with Pittsburgh's Sports & Exhibition Authority and the city of Pittsburgh and county of Allegheny governments incorrectly characterize the role of Rafael Vinoly Architects in the creation of the convention center and therefore confuse the public about the firm's responsibility for the 2007 structural failure.”

The architectural firm also pointed out that, while it designed the center, it did not engineer the building's structural steel beams and, “more importantly, it was not responsible for the design of the connections between them.” Instead, according to the statement, the design and connections were the responsibility of ADF Intl.

Neither Rafael Vinoly Architects nor ADF Intl. returned calls from Tradeshow Week for comment.

Conturo said, “The Sports & Exhibition Authority will seek to recover the ($2 million) from responsible parties,” but she would not identify these parties.

The collapse last year was not the first time the center had had structural problems since construction began in April 2000. At that time, it was touted as a model of environmental sustainability by the U.S. Green Building Council. In November 2001, construction was halted for the first time after it was discovered that possible underground shifting may have affected the stability of some of the 500 concrete and steel caissons that extended into the bedrock.

On Feb. 12, 2002, 10 days before the center was scheduled to open, a 90-ft. steel truss collapsed, killing an ironworker and injuring two others.

Even after the center opened, there were issues:

• June 5, 2002 – During a coroner's inquest, a metallurgist testified that construction workers may have used the wrong nuts to secure the truss that collapsed.
• Nov. 16, 2002 – Numerous cracks in the center's concrete floors were reported.

Conturo said the engineering firm did two assessments for the recent report, one that looked at the cause of last year's collapse and another that looked at the structural integrity of the building as a whole.

“They spent 300 man-hours combing through the building and looking at the structure,” she added. “To be on the prudent side, we are going to do a similar assessment next year and another in five years. That will be an added confidence that things will operate as they should.”

McGrath said no customers have questioned the safety of the building, and bookings were up this year compared with last year.