Lab testing detected “inconsistencies” in the Chinese steel used to support the roof of a $73 million Melbourne public pool before it caved in during a construction collapse, a court has heard.
A court heard imported steel used by construction company ADCO to build the Kew Recreation Centre was found to have a range of issues, including insufficient yield stress, tensile strength and excessive aluminium.
The company’s procurement manager, responsible for sourcing the steel, told the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court that late changes to some aspects of the plans were also not resubmitted for approval as it would have caused a “big financial and time impact” for its client, the City of Boroondara.
The roof of the $73 million Kew Recreation Centre redevelopment on High Street caved in at 10pm on October 20, 2022, causing a deafening bang locals likened to an explosion.
Twisted metal members, which had been holding up the roof, fell from both sides.
The Victorian Building Authority (VBA) has filed 18 charges against ADCO Group and its director John Conroy following a two-year investigation into the major construction collapse.
After ADCO’s procurement manager Richard Zhang failed to provide a witness statement, the VBA applied to the court to conduct a compulsory examination of him.
Under cross-examination from VBA counsel Chris Carr, KC, on Wednesday, Zhang said senior external engineers had raised concerns about the accuracy of mill certificates for imported steel they had used on previous projects and, as a result, agreed the material for the Kew pool would need to be independently tested by Australian labs.
He said the testing was undertaken when the steel arrived in Australia after his role on the project had finished, though he was still included in email chains that raised concerns about the steel before the collapse.
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