A New York high rise under remodeling is collapsing. From one of the photos, the corrosion is apparent, and too much of the steel is gone to hold the weight of the stories above. If the rest of the building is in such bad shape, demolition is probably the only solution, and I don't have any idea on how that can be done without damaging the surrounding buildings. In my opinion, it's too dangerous to attempt any work inside, and I wouldn't want to deal with the lawsuits soon to appear. I know I wouldn't even want to expose some of the steel at ground level to see its condition.
This article give some more information. The contractor has multiple violations, and the work involved adding additional stories to the building.
What gets my attention is the engineering involved. How can additional floors be added without careful examination of the existing structure? Regardless of engineering calculations for structural adequacy, if the original plans were used, they're basically useless. Structural steel design calculation are dependent on the sectional amount of steel, and the tensile strength. Corroded steel can't be calculated without a clear understanding of how much steel is gone, and whether the original shape used for calculations still applies. Considering what some of the pictures reveal, I can't imagine a competent engineer being willing to stamp the plans when a little examination would have revealed the degradation of the original structure. If I had to guess, some money was passed under the table, and a city employee is now in a world of shit.
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