Global Construction Watch

Construction on The Trump Soho Hotel-Condo was stopped last week after a fatal accident. A wooden scaffold workers were standing on to set concrete collapsed, causing a worker to fall 42 floors to his death, while another was lucky enough to be caught by the safety netting.

The company in charge of construction is Bovis Lend Lease, the project management arm of British building firm Bovis. This is not the first time Bovis have run into difficulties with accusations that the building is in fact illegal and should never have got planning permission in the first place. They have also run foul of the NY building code in the past on this site, and a stop work order was immediately issued along with at least four violations including:

• Failure to safeguard the public and property.
• Failure to maintain adequate housekeeping.
• Failure to provide a fire escape hatch.
• Failure to provide adequate fire extinguishers.

The company’s records were also subpoenaed after another tragedy resulted in the death of two firemen at the Deutsche Bank demolition in August last year.

The Manhattan Borough President, Scott Stringer issued this statement regarding the SoHo accident.

The accident at the new hotel at 246 Spring Street is another example of the dangerous conditions created by rushed construction in Manhattan. My office did an initial investigation of violations at the site and discovered that there were two Class A violations issued on October 26, 2007. These violations are considered high risk. However, the construction was allowed to continue unchecked and the Environmental Control Board hearing to review the violations was not scheduled until January 24, 2008.

This is unacceptable. The death and injury of construction workers and the compromised safety of emergency responders and surrounding community should not be considered the cost of doing business in Manhattan. Any type of high risk violation should necessitate a halt of unsafe work until the violation is cured. I will continue to investigate this matter and look to see rapid response from all relevant city agencies. I applaud the fire, police and other emergency responders for their bravery and for putting themselves at risk to ensure the safety of all New Yorkers.

Curbed NY have detailed coverage of the accident in their archives.