The Columns That Weren't: At Noida's Supertech Emerald Court, twin towers on death row aren't the only big worry

Noida: Two separate structural audit reports suggest that Supertech’s Emerald Court, where the illegally constructed 32-storey twin towers are to be demolished on 28 August, is built on columns that are weak and short of prescribed quality and durability standards.

With some 660 families at risk as the big demolition nears, these columns are being reinforced so as to withstand the vibrations generated by the collapsing buildings. A question mark now hangs over the quality of Supertech’s construction, and a successful demolition of the twin towers won’t make them go away.

The earlier report was conducted on behalf of the residents of Emerald Court, but the second report has been drawn up by Supertech itself following an order from the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI).

The latest report says that while the design strength of the various towers of the society was proposed to be 25 MPa (Megapascals, the unit for measuring the compressive strength of concrete), the strength of all the 500 columns in the basement was found to be as low as between MPa8 and MPa17. “The buildings of Emerald Court were weakly constructed,” a CBRI official told Firstpost.

The 51 pillars, or columns, of Aster I and II, the buildings of Emerald Court closest to the blast, were of immediate concern to the CBRI, sources told Firstpost. The audit found that all these 51 pillars needed to be strengthened and repaired to bear the shockwaves that will be generated by the blast on 28 August. Of these 51 columns, 16 are so “weak” that they would not have tolerated the shockwaves generated by the blast.

CBRI sources told Firstpost that while 10 of these extremely weak columns have already been repaired by Supertech, six still need reinforcement and owing to the paucity of time, they need to be treated with “inject grouting” and strengthened with carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP). Sources added that reinforcement would be completed by 27 August.

Five beams and three slabs too were found to be damaged owing to seepage during CBRI survey on 22 August; their rebuilding after the blast is on the cards.

The earlier audit conducted by New Delhi-based D&R Consultants too had reached the same conclusions: Emerald Court’s “…construction quality was substandard. material quality considerably below the initially considered design parameters…”

“As per structural drawings, the design of the basement columns should be M-25 (MPa) Grade concrete. As per the NDT (non-destructible tests; five kinds of tests were conducted on the basement pillars), the concrete grade of columns was found to be M-15 (approx.), while some columns are as low as M8, M9. M-11, M-12, and M-13,” the audit said.

“In continuation of the NDT report, we found material quality considerably below the initially considered design parameters. Columns and beams had visual cracks on the surface with corroded reinforcements,” the audit observed in a scathing commentary on the construction quality of the society.

“Hence, structural members are deficient in bearing the dead & proposed load,” is the damaging result of the audit.
The different towers of the society are not built to bear earthquakes. “After looking at the above basement condition, we recommend immediate retrofitting/ strengthening of the deficient member and ensuring the stability of basement columns & beams as per seismic analysis code IS1893-2016,” auditors suggested.

Supertech declined to comment when contacted by Firstpost.

Emerald Court RWA President UBS Teotia spoke to Firstpost. “We knew from the beginning, from the time we shifted in our flats that the builder had given us substandard construction. In fact, the basement below Aster I and II (towers closest to the blast) was closed by an illegal wall for some 10 years. It was only opened after a high court judgment. As the wall was there, constant seepage had further weakened the structures,” he said.

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