SINGAPORE – Two months after a concrete sunshade on the fourth floor of a Tampines block fell onto the sunshade on the third storey, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has found that other existing sunshades at Block 201E Tampines Street 23 and its surrounding blocks are safe.

For the affected sunshade at the incident block, the engineers’ investigations confirmed that the side that had dislodged had no reinforcement bars (rebars).

In a statement on Dec 4, BCA said it had earlier directed Tampines Town Council to engage a professional engineer to carry out a detailed investigation, following the incident on 25 September 2016.

The conclusion was that the sunshade dislodged because of the way it was constructed and not due to structural design.

Additional checks on similar sunshades in the precinct were also conducted.

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2016-09-25 19:22:06

Photo Gallery

Concrete sunshade at Tampines HDB block collapses

Source:

The Straits Times

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These include ultrasound scanning checks, conducted by an independent accredited testing laboratory. The ultrasound checks showed that reinforcement bars were detected in all existing sunshades at Block 201E and surrounding blocks.

To further verify the findings from the ultrasound checks, the professional engineer, in the presence of BCA engineers, carried out sampling checks by removing a strip of concrete cover to expose the rebars to establish the number and size of rebars.

“These checks confirmed that the existing sunshades are adequately supported on the columns and are safe,” said the BCA.

BCA said it also conducted an independent assessment of the findings and concurs with the PE’s conclusions.

candicec@sph.com.sg