Testwell Accused of Faking Concrete Tests for Major New York Real Estate and Landmarks
Last year it was the cranes- this year the concrete!? The stability of structures New York holds as sacred is now in question- not the real estate market, but the stability of the concrete used to build them.
Testwell Laboratories, in a move that smacks of irony, has apparently “adjusted” or outright faked various concrete strength tests- which makes me question their integrity on two levels! Prosecutors are bringing charges against Testwell’s president and other officials, charging that the lab made up and/ or manipulated concrete and steel test results.
According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, the charge is essentially that Testwell used computer models to check project specific concrete strength and then doctored the paperwork as if they had physically mixed the test-concrete and tested it on-site. Additionally, real on-site tests were frequently altered.
It’s good to know that someone is on to these guys- the problem is that over 100 buildings in the city are already built from concrete they tested. A few dozen of their structures have since been tested by the city and declared safe- we’re talking about places like: Yankee Stadium, the Freedom Tower, the Second Avenue subway line, office buildings in Times Square, and the JetBlue terminal at Kennedy. 70+ others remain untested.
Jury selection started last week in the Testwell case. Prosecutors have also charged another concrete testing company and its lab director with falsifying test results for the Sept. 11 memorial, LaGuardia Airport’s control tower and nearly 100 other projects. That company and lab director have pleaded not guilty; no trial date has been set.
Testwell officials and lawyers explain away the charges, saying that customers knew about the computer modeling and that it is proven, and that smoothing over inconsistencies in paperwork is basic error correction and common in the industry. Maybe- but I doubt that kind of argument will “stand up” in court.
“Everybody, I think, is more on edge. But we don’t have a sense, as yet, that there’s been an endangerment of safety,” Cement League lawyer Joseph S. Kaming is quoted as saying. Hopefully that’s the case.
The bottom line is that this puts every construction company in New York on notice and, in slowing down building contracts, delivers yet another sucker punch to the construction industry.
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