Owner hires engineers to investigate fatal collapse
LONDON, Ont. — The owner of a partially collapsed apartment building where two workers were killed has hired “top forensic structural engineers” to determine what happened in the tragic incident.
Michelle Doornbosch, president of Nest on Wonderland — the four-storey apartment that collapsed Friday, killing two and injured five others, spoke out Monday, saying she's working through her insurance company to determine what happened.
“As with any building project, we work as a team and constantly rely on the expertise of our experienced architects, engineers, consultants and the municipal approval authorities to design and review all specifications to deliver a structurally safe and sound building,” she said.
“We strongly enforce all safety protocols on all projects, including this one. We are anxious to provide an
swers as to the cause of this accident and to this end have worked with our insurer to retain some of the top forensic structural engineers in the country to investigate.”
Doornbosch said she will share the results of this investigation once they become available.
Nest on Wonderland is the name of the project, owned by Brock Developments Group, of which Shaun Stevens is a partner.
Stevens is known in the London building community for having opened and closed several building businesses.
“We are working closely with the Ministry of Labour and with local authorities on the investigation,” said Doornbosch. “We are devastated by this tragedy and our thoughts remain with those families affected.”
Some of the estimated 40 workers on site described seeing and hearing a freshly poured concrete section on the fourth floor collapse and smash down onto each floor beneath to the ground, taking the outer wall with it.
Two workers were killed: John Martens, 21, and Henry Harder, 26.
One of the two men died in hospital. The body of the second was pulled from the rubble about midnight Saturday, city officials said.
Four other workers were taken to hospital and another one was treated at the scene. Monte McNaughton, a local MPP and Ontario's labour minister, told Postmedia “no expense” will be spared in the government's probe into the incident.