Jun. 27—There was only one item of business listed for Monday’s meeting of the London Code Enforcement Board, but it was a sensitive subject.
“I’m here tonight because I’m that frustrated and angry,” lawyer Jane Dyche stated to the board as the meeting began.
Being discussed was the May 22 collapse of the roof on Belle Bennett Auditorium, located within former Sue Bennett College campus. Jim Hays, managing member of Sue Bennett Hill LLC, whom Dyche represents, witnessed the incident as it occurred.
“There’s no reason to contest the fact that part of that roof fell—he saw it, I’ve seen it, and we have engineers and architects up there to look at it,” Dyche continued. “Our concern—aand really, in my mind—tthe only basis of our appearance here today is the $1,000-a-day fine if we didn’t have a contract with an engineer in place within 14 days from May 22.”
Architect David Zawko came forward, telling board members that he believes 30 days is a quite tight schedule for putting together any sort of real drawing, therefore, what the architectural team had pulled off in those 14 days was impressive.
“A realistic design team schedule isn’t going to be 30 days. Everybody has 10 other jobs, and we’re going to be shifting around,” Zawko stated.
He informed the board that there were four structural engineers on site last week. The team has yet to receive an official report, but an observational report was provided, just on the basis of viewing the situation.
Zawko additionally stated that there would likely be a six-to-eight week minimum before the architecture team could truly begin, as the building has to be dried due to a leak being the cause of the roof’s collapse. The team is taking bids to do so at this time. It will also require tarp.
The team intends to address issues in phases rather than rush the process, in an effort to prevent a secondary incident.
“We’ve just taken this on … so far, as a pro bono job to save the building. That’s kind of been our approach so far,” Zawko shared.
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