Concrete sunshade of Bedok industrial building collapses, falls four storeys down

Singapore — On Sunday morning (Aug 22), one part of the concrete structure at the highest level of a building in Bedok collapsed and fell from a fourth-floor height to the ground.

Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident, which occurred at 3013 Bedok Industrial Park E.

The portion of the concrete structure collapsed sometime between 4 and 6 am, and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) received an alert concerning the incident at around 9:20 on Sunday morning.

Videos of the collapsed structure were posted on the Facebook pages of SG Virality and The Local Society.

Since the building is closed on Sundays, no one was around during the time of the collapse of the concrete structure.

Officers from the SCDF then proceeded to make a thorough search of the debris on the ground and reported that no person had got trapped.

Mr Alan Ong, a director at signboard-making company Gomotex Signcraft Studio, whose office is on the first floor of the affected building, told The Straits Times it was fortunate that the incident happened on a Sunday when there were no people, as there could have been individuals injured by the collapse had it occurred on a weekday. 

Debris from the structure, which was reportedly a sunshade, landed on a driveway near the entrance of the building. This affected several small areas in the vicinity.

No other part of the building was affected by the partial collapse of the concrete sunshade.

Nevertheless, the areas immediately under the “dislodged concrete sunshade” have been cordoned off for safety reasons by the owner of the building, JTC, according to a spokesperson for the Building and Construction Authority (BCA).

The owner also deployed equipment to remove the portion of the sunshade that still dangled over the edge of the roof of the building.

BCA is asking JTX to obtain the services of a professional engineer for the rest of the sunshade to be removed, as well as to investigate why a portion had collapsed and to recommend permanent rectification works.

The engineer will be asked to conduct inspections on three adjacent blocks that have the same concrete sunshade design to ensure the safety of people in the area.

The BCA added that along with engineers, it “inspected and assessed that the structural integrity of the main building is not affected.” /TISG

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