Pittsburgh Blame Game Still in Play

A year and a half after a 20'x60' concrete slab collapsed in a second-floor loading dock at Pittsburgh's David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the Sports & Exhibition Authority, which oversees the center, and Allegheny County Controller Mark Patrick Flaherty don't see eye to eye on what went wrong. Not only that, it has turned into an occasion to bring up old disagreements about how the building's construction was managed in the first place.

“SEA management was found to be lax in their control over the convention center project's scope and budget,” Flaherty said.

Flaherty's office conducted a review of the SEA's controls surrounding budget, contract processes and project billings for construction of the DLLCC, which opened in February 2002. The Feb. 5, 2007, slab collapse was the latest in a string of structural issues that plagued the building since construction first began.

“Because the SEA had been fully aware of the DLLCC's structural risk, in conjunction with the various incidents that continued to occur throughout its construction, all events at the center should have been restricted or canceled until a complete and thorough independent investigation had been conducted,” Flaherty said.

The building was closed for a month after the Feb. 5 incident last year, and Wiss, Janney, Elstner, an engineering firm hired by the SEA, was brought in to investigate the collapse, according to SEA Executive Director Mary Conturo.

After two in-depth assessments were conducted, Conturo added, Wiss, Janney, Elstner “considered the building safe for occupancy.”

It probably should come as no surprise that Conturo didn't agree with Flaherty's assessment of SEA's management of the center's construction. She said, “The authority ... disputes any suggestion that it was lax in its control of the budget, or that it rushed the project to completion.”

Numerous enhancements were added to the building after the initial design phase that raised the overall cost, Conturo said. They included a water feature, glass elevator and environmental safeguards that “helped the building earn its gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating.”

She added, “The DLLCC is the only gold LEED-certified convention center in the world. This was an expensive undertaking, but we as a community are glad that we did it.”

As for construction delays that Flaherty mentioned, Conturo said, “As with every project owner, the construction schedule was important to us, and we continued to reinforce that to the construction manager and the contractors through construction.”

Speaking of construction managers, that's another point of contention between Flaherty and Conturo.

According to Flaherty, many of the problems that arose could have been mitigated if the authority had hired a construction manager under an “agency” agreement, which would leave it free of risk with regard to the cost or schedule of the project.

Conturo said that the authority had indeed hired an “agency” construction manager as “required by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the provider of a significant amount of funding for the project.”

Another unresolved matter is the more than $2 million in losses that Conturo said resulted from business interruption during repair of the concrete slab that still needed to be recouped. While local news reports suggested the authority was looking to the architect that designed the center, Rafael Vinoly Architects, and ADF Intl., a Canadian-based steel contractor, to cough up the money, Conturo was tight-lipped on whom the authority considered responsible.

“We're still pursuing it, and it hasn't been resolved,” she added.

One thing that Flaherty and Conturo could agree on was that, even after all the problems, the center now was completely safe. “Despite the deficiencies that produced problems with the physical structure of the convention center, it remains a safe and cutting-edge facility for hosting meetings and conventions,” Flaherty said.

Conturo added that the authority spent a significant amount of money to have Wiss, Janney, Elstner inspect the building in 2007 and “assure the authority, the public officials and the public in general of the overall safety of the building.”

Another regular inspection is scheduled for 2009.