Dive Brief:
- Texas school contractor Ratcliff Constructors, the target of post-tornado criticism in the aftermath of the deadly Christmas week storms that struck the Dallas area, is defending itself against allegations that shoddy construction practices were largely responsible for the extensive damage to an Ellis County elementary school, the Dallas Morning News reported.
- Engineer Timothy Marshall, part of a Weather Channel volunteer damage survey team, had told the Morning News that the tornado aftermath revealed "horrific" problems with the construction of Donald T. Shields Elementary, for which Ratcliff was the general contractor.
- Ratcliff said that high winds caused the school’s walls to fall down, not substandard construction, the Morning News reported. The company said the exterior brick walls that fell were attached according to plans designed for 90-mph winds, were constructed based on approved drawings, and had passed all inspections. Marshall said the failure of the walls to hold was due to inadequate wall connections.
Dive Insight:
As of 2014, Ratcliff had completed nearly $200 million worth of construction projects for the Dallas Independent School District, more than $140 million worth of work for the Frisco ISD, and $125 million for the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD, according to the Morning News. DISD spokesman, Andre Riley, said Ratcliff had worked on more than a dozen projects for the district since 2008 — the same year Ratcliff completed Shields Elementary.
"Ratcliff Constructors LP," President Max K. Young said in a statement, "strongly disagrees with these allegations and firmly believes [Donald T.] Shields Elementary School was constructed in accordance with the plans and specifications (Contract Documents) provided to us."
Red Oak ISD officials, where Shields Elementary is located, said they take Marshall’s opinion "very seriously as the safety of our students is our No. 1 priority." However, as they said in a press release in response to the allegations of shoddy construction, they are awaiting engineer and insurance reports to decide what action to take next.
Ratcliff said it has stamped and sealed plans and specifications for the school and that the project passed all of the many inspections throughout the course of the job. If that is the case, it might indicate the need to revise the state's existing building codes.
After 1992’s Hurricane Andrew, which killed more than 60 people and cost approximately $25 billion in damages, rolled through Florida, officials were forced to study existing building regulations. This resulted in the new Florida building code, which includes state product approvals for any element of a structure — windows, doors, fasteners, roofing systems — that could be adversely affected by high winds, as well as other strict regulations regarding wind. Florida statutes also require that licensed contractors who work on certain structures take regular "wind mitigation" continuing education.
