Investigation Reveals Design Flaws in Pool Deck of Florida Apartment Building Put Building at Risk of Failure Before Construction

On Thursday, federal investigators revealed that design flaws in the pool deck of the Surfside, Florida, apartment building, where a partial collapse killed 98 people in June 2021, put the building at risk of failure before it was even built.

Lead investigator for the National Institute for Standards and Technology, Glenn Bell, said in a public meeting at the agency’s Maryland headquarters that “the conditions that existed in the pool deck slab at that time represented a serious safety concern for the building.”

The investigators found that the mid-rise condo building had a defective and weak pool deck among other code violations. The pool deck was especially egregious, and over the next four decades, corrosion, along with renovations that placed a heavier load than the deck was designed to hold, made the building even more vulnerable. Poor construction of the deck in 1981 further weakened Champlain Towers South.

The investigation is still ongoing, and the investigators are looking into several hypotheses that could explain the cause of the deadly collapse. The findings of the investigation will be released in the coming months.

The National Institute for Standards and Technology is working with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation to ensure that similar tragedies do not occur in the future. The agency is also working with the state to review existing buildings and identify any potential safety issues.