The leaking roof and the cracking of walls at the newly built P54 million Industrial Court are not structural problems, so says the Department of Building and Engineering Services (DEBS).
The response came after the Telegraph revealed that the building, which is barely a year and a half years old, was showing signs of structural defects noticeable at the two reinforced concrete columns that support the entrance roof and on the sides of the walls. The roofing is also not intact as seen from atop the Square Mart Mall building.
The DEBS says this is of no concern as the columns are purely decorative with the brickwork topped with an in situ concrete slab.
“As of now, the ministry has not determined anything to suggest that the building is unsafe for occupation. With respect to the defects which have manifested themselves, the ministry is following the normal course of action as provided for in the contract to get these attended to,” says Morwalela Kesalopa, the Principal Public Relations Officer at DEBS.┬á
Kesalopa says buildings are prone to cracks because the ground is always moving, adding that cracks should be controlled by providing expansion  joints and other provisions at appropriate places to ensure that when they develop, they do not compromise the structural integrity of the building. DEBS, however, admits that extra work needs to be done to hold the twin concrete columns that support the entrance roof of the court building but the contractor has still not done such work.
┬á“A “v” joint should have been formed between the brickwork and the slab so that the inevitable movement between the bricks and the concrete will not result in the unsightly “crack”. The contractor has long been instructed to provide this joint. The so-called crack is therefore actually the joint between the concrete and the brickwork but was not properly done,”┬á the spokesman says.
The DEBS gave the name of the contractor as Hitecon (Pty) Ltd.
Kesalopa nevertheless maintains not every crack is a structural problem.
“As the ground on which buildings are constructed on moves, buildings move and in the process cracks may manifest themselves. When a new building is constructed, the ground underneath settles due to the load imposed on it. It is, therefore, not a surprise to those who know construction that a new building can crack as the ground stabilizes to support the imposed loading by the building. The magnitude, nature and the seriousness of the crack is what matters,” says Kesalopa.┬á
 According to the DEBS, in accordance with the provision of the contract, half of the retention money was released to the contractor at the practical completion stage while half of the money is still with government until final certification is achieved. 
“Contractually, at the end of defects liability period if there are no defects identified, government is obliged to release retention. Even after the release of retention, if there are latent defects which manifest themselves, government can still recall the contractor to attend to these,” says the spokesman.
