SURFSIDE, Fla. — Federal scientists investigating the 2021 collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside that killed 98 people say they are zeroing in on what initiated the tragedy.
“Our recent work indicates that it is more likely that the failure started in the pool deck than the tower,” Glenn Bell, the associate lead investigator with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Construction Safety Team told Local 10 News on Tuesday.
Bell explained that the pool deck slab was designed below strength requirements and that steel reinforcement was not placed as intended.
“The design of the pool deck slab in most places was under or less than the strength required by the code,” Bell said. “In some places the design provided less than half — less than half — the strength required by the code.”
He added that the pool deck slab reinforcement was “not typically not placed per the design requirements — the top reinforcement was placed lower in the slab than the design required and the bars over the tops of the columns were spaced wider than required.”
Bell also confirmed that those two flaws — understrength design and misplaced slab reinforcement — caused most of the problems.
“They existed from the time construction was complete, 40 years before the partial collapse,” he said.
We think we are zeroing in on the actual initiation point, but with initiation, just as important are how the failure was allowed to progress or what caused it to progress, particularly from the pool deck into the tower. Because if that progression wasn’t allowed to occur, the disaster wouldn’t have been anything close to what we are talking about here. So progressive collapse is just as important to initiation.
Investigators said widespread issues across the building made their work especially challenging.
“This is one of the reasons that this investigation has been so difficult,” Bell said. “There were pretty widespread problems with the building both in design and construction. There were a lot of areas in the building, in the pool deck, and the tower. Many, many, lessons to be learned.”
Although investigators have long pointed to the pool deck as the likely initiation point, Bell said they continue examining design and construction problems in the tower.
“In spite of the fact that we now think it is more likely that the failure started in the pool deck than the tower, there were problems in the tower itself that we have had to chase down and are continuing to tie up,” he said.
The next detailed public update on the investigation is expected in spring 2026.
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