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Updated at 4.30pm
INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATORS WILL carry out extensive testing on the balcony that collapsed in Berkeley in June, killing six young people.
The District Attorney’s office began the criminal investigation shortly after the tragedy.
Outside engineering, architecture and water-proofing experts carried out a preliminary examination of the scene in July.
According to RTÉ the experts are due to return there within the next month to carry out major testing of the balcony.
Shortly after the Balcony Collapse, the US contractor that built the apartment complex applied for a restraining order against public officials investigating evidence.
Segue Construction sought the order to prevent district attorney investigators from conducting tests without a company representative being present.
The tragedy has sparked the implementation of new building regulations in California, including inspections of all existing balconies to prevent another similar collapse.
Balconies now need to be constructed with water-resistant wood or corrosion-resistant steel, and will be inspected six months after construction and then again every three years.
Meanwhile, a fundraiser is taking place this Friday for one of the injured students, Clodagh Cogley.
A trampoline dodgeball tournament and an adult open jump session will be held at The Jump Zone in Santry.
Clodagh suffered extensive injuries including two collapsed lungs, a broken shoulder, a broken knee, five broken ribs and a broken spinal cord.
All funds raised will go towards adapting her family home to suit her needs including wheelchair accessibility and numerous other expenses.
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Like everything else, reactive rather than preventative. RIP to those students who lost their lives
A lot of substandard building done in the boom times not only in The States but here in Ireland as well, how many construction sites were actually visited regularly by properly qualified engineers who ensured that all the safety requirements were met? in my opinion very few. So many people at fault here, hopefully a very costly lesson have been learned but I wonder if that’s the case.
And yet builders have the cheek to complain about tighter regulations….
Why do you need to test it to know it wasn’t structurally sound? It broke, FFS – people died. What are you confused about?
I think the point is to prove it evidentially in terms of criminal negligence. Scandalous that they would seek a restraining order against this investigation in my view.
In terms of what exactly?
That’s typical. Like going on the pill when you’re already pregnant. If that happened in Ireland we would be a mockery.
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