The EEVblog Lab Building Complex has SHIFTED

[EEVblog]

The building next door to the lab which shares the same underground carpark has "shifted" by 25mm, and there are now struts holding up the underground carpark on both levels, with the higher level having a giant crack in the slab along the axis of the struts 

And above the two basement floors outside right above, a large stretch of all the pavers have shifted. Hard to see in the photo. Similar length to the basement cracking. They have dug up two sections to inspect the probable slab shift.

Technically, not a problem that affects my building, yet, but they are joined at the hip.

I would be surprised if all occupants of the building next door get told to leave. These has been a big spate of these in Sydney with apartment blocks.

[Zero999]

Do you know why? Could it have been a small earthquake?

[SeanB]

Going to guess the complex is around 10 to 15 years old, and this is the foundations settling, probably due to them either being originally piled and filled during construction. Then due to shifting rainfall and a dry period the ground dried out slightly, and the ground has shifted, or there has been steady watering of the grounds, making the ground compact down. There is a building complex near me that has had some settlement, the one side has settled down by around 40cm over 10 years, leaving a gap in the building between the two halves of the building.

There was a point when the gap was big enough in the expansion gap to pass a person through, before the gap had a filler piece inserted in there.

I would guess the same for this, with the bracing being there to prevent the edge crumbling with the load of the ground outside.

[EEVblog]

Do you know why? Could it have been a small earthquake?

No idea yet. All we know is it's moved.

[EEVblog]

Going to guess the complex is around 10 to 15 years old

I believe it's around 17 years old or so.
Actually, that's my building. This one next door is a couple of years younger. The movement is in the expansion joint between the two buildings.

[james_s]

After seeing that condominium tower in Florida collapse recently this sort of thing would make me a bit nervous.

[John B]

Did you rent the space or buy? The Mascot towers debacle, not to mention Opal, Cube etc has really opened my eyes to this stuff.

[BrokenYugo]

After seeing that condominium tower in Florida collapse recently this sort of thing would make me a bit nervous.

On the other hand with that disaster in recent memory I'd expect there to be increased caution around concrete buildings doing anything out of the ordinary.

[SL4P]

I’d be fairly relaxed unless it’s on landfill…
Northwestern Sydney is mostly on good old Sydney sandstone, so it’ll take a good push.

[EEVblog]

Did you rent the space or buy? The Mascot towers debacle, not to mention Opal, Cube etc has really opened my eyes to this stuff.

I've owned it for the last 10 years.

[John B]

Well then, grab the caulking gun, she'll be right no wukkas.

[Nusa]

I suspect some assigned parking space owners are annoyed right now.

[Bud]

Watch your insurance bill now ! 

[EEVblog]

I suspect some assigned parking space owners are annoyed right now.

Once the lockdowns are over, yeah. Now, not really, the carpark is 90% deserted.
Come to think of it, if I was paying rent in that building then yeah, I'd be immediately asking for a discount for unusable space.

[rsjsouza]

I’d be fairly relaxed unless it’s on landfill…
Northwestern Sydney is mostly on good old Sydney sandstone, so it’ll take a good push.

That or, if the garage is several levels deep underground, the failure could come from a settlement there.

The soil where I live is a weird clay and it becomes arenous during extreme drought. My house is located in a place where the bedrock is just a few meters below the top soil, but even still the house experiences immense shifts throughout the year.

(the original builders never took advantage of that and used a concrete slab anyways... Oh well)

[bdunham7]

How much force can those struts exert?  10 tons each, maybe--at the most?  I hope the builders didn't skimp on the steel.

[Nusa]

How much force can those struts exert?  10 tons each, maybe--at the most?  I hope the builders didn't skimp on the steel.

Hydraulic jacks generally get used when we need to exert force. Manual screw jacks are generally used for support, not application of force. The shore jacks I see in the picture are probably in the 10-ton rating area, so good guess. Safety factors are usually about 2.5, so over 20 tons before direct failure. But you also have to worry about how much weight the floor can support before the jack punches through.

[floobydust]

Shoring up a parkade, would need a structural PE to signoff on that and it's right next a column and beam so I would be very cautious- it's either an idiot put the posts up or something more serious.

The Miami FIU pedestrian bridge failure, one error was the engineers' assumption the end of the bridge would be butted up against the other portion. Think of two people leaning back to back, they support each other. But the other half of the bridge wasn't in place... so the end concrete member just shot out and the entire bridge failed.
If your building design is assuming it can lean on the one next door, there will be troubles.

The Miami Champlain Towers South condo failure, it's the usual corruption where the architect/engineer made some mistakes, adding a last minute penthouse, and the builder skimped on rebar and waterproofing. Add decades of saltwater, crooked building inspectors, cosmetic patching and repairs, and a condo board faced with nobody wanting to fork out the $9M+ repairs... and it collapsed.

Concrete is not really fixable, I think Opal (and likely SEG Plaza) are testaments to the fact you are hooped if it breaks, and design errors cannot be "patched up".
I would be concerned about the reasons for the 1" shift, if it's getting worse is the big issue tracked in the FIU lawsuits.

[Nusa]

Probably a good time to make sure all your off-site backups are current. Just in case you show up some morning and find out the building is condemned, not safe to enter for any reason.

[CJay]

Probably a good time to make sure all your off-site backups are current. Just in case you show up some morning and find out the building is condemned, not safe to enter for any reason.

Damn fine logic for buying a load of new TE, it's an offsite DR backup.

[EEVblog]

Probably a good time to make sure all your off-site backups are current. Just in case you show up some morning and find out the building is condemned, not safe to enter for any reason.

My NAS is backed up to the cloud, so technically all files accesible, but quite slow of course.

[EEVblog]

Damn fine logic for buying a load of new TE, it's an offsite DR backup.

I have enough gear to equip several labs!
I just can't set them up, and one storeage unit is in the same building.

[Towger]

I would be more concerned with your property assets  suddenly becoming a liability.

[EEVblog]

I would be more concerned with your property assets  suddenly becoming a liability.

Yeah, that's a potential concern.
Although I'm in such a good location, it would be foolish to panic sell.
Although if I was in that building next door and heard that BANG BANG BANG BANG, I might be contacting my realestate agent right about now.

[Ed.Kloonk]

Do you know why? Could it have been a small earthquake?

I think it was the music coming from those Hillsong ppl.