SURFSIDE, Fla. – Federal investigators of the 2021 building collapse that killed 98 people in Surfside announced they expect to release their report in 2026, not next year as planned.
Judith Mitrani-Reiser, a scientist, is a lead investigator with The National Institute of Standards & Technology, one of the country’s oldest physical science laboratories.
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On Thursday, Mitrani-Reiser appeared before the National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee, the federal agency investigating the Champlain Towers South’s failure on June 24, 2021.
“Unfortunately, we have faced technical and programmatic delays,” Mitrani-Reiser told the committee during the NCST meeting.
Glenn Bell, a structural engineer, is an associate lead investigator with NIST. He and Mitrani-Reiser presented a 35-slide progress report of an investigation to prevent a future tragedy.
Testing continued this year. The “programmatic” delays they listed in their presentation included issues with “structural laboratory slab-column tests;” and the “loss” of a “key geotechnical staff member. ”
They also reported they needed more time than expected to “customize the interview instruments” and to access local government records for archival research.
The list of “technical” delays included a sample of concrete that was “crumbly,” concrete cores with “variable moisture content” and issues with testing a pile-shaft core with a low compressive strength.
They also listed the long list of tasks completed during the last three years of work, including collecting evidence in 2021, conducting corrosion studies in 2022, and structural testing in 2023.
A video by NIST on the investigation
A slide out of the presentation
Remembering the victims