Casement Park in line for major overhaul - 40,000 all seater Stadium.

[johnneycool]

If I remember correctly I think O'Hare and McGovern won the contract to build this stand and when it was finished some of the workers boasted that they buried bottles of holy water and statues of the Virgin Mary and the like in the foundations.  Its no wonder the stand fell down

A Sunday World special I presume Nige?

[aontroim abu]

Guys the contractor O'Hare McGovern are responsible for this as their scheme is a design & build and they excavated too close to the foundations of the West stand without sheet piling it. They used a trench fill but it slipped and there was nothing stopping the loadings from the stand from failing. I would bet strongly that O'Hare & McGovern's insurance will cover this stand which cannot be salvaged, it will have to be demolished and rebuilt...FACT!!!. I would say a tasty £250,000 excess would be needed (or more) but I suppose its better than forking out about £10 million...

There's a lot more to it than this. Several structural engineers have signed off the works, they could well be in a bit of bother too

[illdecide]

Guys the contractor O'Hare McGovern are responsible for this as their scheme is a design & build and they excavated too close to the foundations of the West stand without sheet piling it. They used a trench fill but it slipped and there was nothing stopping the loadings from the stand from failing. I would bet strongly that O'Hare & McGovern's insurance will cover this stand which cannot be salvaged, it will have to be demolished and rebuilt...FACT!!!. I would say a tasty £250,000 excess would be needed (or more) but I suppose its better than forking out about £10 million...

There's a lot more to it than this. Several structural engineers have signed off the works, they could well be in a bit of bother too

There was nothing wrong with the West stand until O'Hare & McGovern started to excavate around the foundations of the stand. They simply did not have the adequate measures in place to keep the foundations in-tact (Sheet piling)

[aontroim abu]

Guys the contractor O'Hare McGovern are responsible for this as their scheme is a design & build and they excavated too close to the foundations of the West stand without sheet piling it. They used a trench fill but it slipped and there was nothing stopping the loadings from the stand from failing. I would bet strongly that O'Hare & McGovern's insurance will cover this stand which cannot be salvaged, it will have to be demolished and rebuilt...FACT!!!. I would say a tasty £250,000 excess would be needed (or more) but I suppose its better than forking out about £10 million...

There's a lot more to it than this. Several structural engineers have signed off the works, they could well be in a bit of bother too

There was nothing wrong with the West stand until O'Hare & McGovern started to excavate around the foundations of the stand. They simply did not have the adequate measures in place to keep the foundations in-tact (Sheet piling)

we'll see

[illdecide]

We'll all i'm saying and think about it logically...The stand was perfect with no defects up until the Contractor decided to excavate this massive hole right beside the foundations of the stand, now the side of the stand that has failed just happens to be the side the hole was excavated (could be just a coincidence). I'm not saying you're wrong as it may well be the case but i think the odds are stacked against your theory.

[aontroim abu]

We'll all i'm saying and think about it logically...The stand was perfect with no defects up until the Contractor decided to excavate this massive hole right beside the foundations of the stand, now the side of the stand that has failed just happens to be the side the hole was excavated (could be just a coincidence). I'm not saying you're wrong as it may well be the case but i think the odds are stacked against your theory.

Let's just say I've seen lots of paperwork and emails regarding this matter, and it's not just as clear cut as making a scapegoat of the contractor. Any good contractor worth his salt will always get approvals and confirmations prior to carrying out work of this nature, plus getting approval of what he's done when he's finished.

This is not black and white, there could well be several people sweating this one out

[Nigel White]

If I remember correctly I think O'Hare and McGovern won the contract to build this stand and when it was finished some of the workers boasted that they buried bottles of holy water and statues of the Virgin Mary and the like in the foundations.  Its no wonder the stand fell down

A Sunday World special I presume Nige?

I think so Johnny. It was either it of some other well informed source of that ilk

[Nigel White]

I see that this has come from a preliminary engineer's report into the damage and I also see that the IFA are studying its findings.

In saying that, I bet they're raging they didn't grab a bigger lump of the cake originally.

Are you still sticking to your view that it's not going to come down?

I can't see it.

Thats because you are on the wrong side of the west link, its easily visible from Tates avenue

There's actually a great view of it from the Whiterock but I suppose you're right. Thing is, who is going to be held accountable? The contractor? His insurance company? Bad workmanship? Will they fork out?

A work-a-round is on the cards IMO.

Viz magazine used to have a column entitled ' Legal advice from the Man in the Pub, Britain 's most ill informed correspondent '. It' wasn't you by any chance

[muppet]

If I remember correctly I think O'Hare and McGovern won the contract to build this stand and when it was finished some of the workers boasted that they buried bottles of holy water and statues of the Virgin Mary and the like in the foundations.  Its no wonder the stand fell down

A Sunday World special I presume Nige?

I think so Johnny. It was either it of some other well informed source of that ilk

Seriously, I know Catholic builders and there is no way they would throw away their statues of the Virgin Mary. Even the portable ones they always carry with them, no way would they show them away. Not a hope. Their Mammies would ate them.

[Wildweasel74]

Don't understand how the contractor started to excavate without sheet piling at the stands location, was always leaving himself open to possible ground slip. they can argue all they want, end of the day nothing was wrong prior to excavate work.

[rrhf]

I haven't seen the plans of the stadium but is there not a huge blessing in this for the ifa.   Will there be more money produced from the fund to rebuild this in keeping with the other new plans.

[Nigel White]

No.  The West Stand is the newest section of the ground but it was going to get a major upgrade under the current plans including the provision of a new roof and an extension quadrant to merge it seamlessly into the new South Stand. I assume the replacement will therefore be like for like

[Hereiam]

They were excavating for a new community pool at the rear of the stand which I can only assume was part of the main development works which I'm sure would have had all the structural engineers/Architects input. Someone will be having a few sleepless nights but sure Peter & co will help them out with a few pound from Stormont to rebuild the stand.

[Applesisapples]

Guys the contractor O'Hare McGovern are responsible for this as their scheme is a design & build and they excavated too close to the foundations of the West stand without sheet piling it. They used a trench fill but it slipped and there was nothing stopping the loadings from the stand from failing. I would bet strongly that O'Hare & McGovern's insurance will cover this stand which cannot be salvaged, it will have to be demolished and rebuilt...FACT!!!. I would say a tasty £250,000 excess would be needed (or more) but I suppose its better than forking out about £10 million...

There's a lot more to it than this. Several structural engineers have signed off the works, they could well be in a bit of bother too

There was nothing wrong with the West stand until O'Hare & McGovern started to excavate around the foundations of the stand. They simply did not have the adequate measures in place to keep the foundations in-tact (Sheet piling)

Serious accusation, can you prove it?

[illdecide]

Guys the contractor O'Hare McGovern are responsible for this as their scheme is a design & build and they excavated too close to the foundations of the West stand without sheet piling it. They used a trench fill but it slipped and there was nothing stopping the loadings from the stand from failing. I would bet strongly that O'Hare & McGovern's insurance will cover this stand which cannot be salvaged, it will have to be demolished and rebuilt...FACT!!!. I would say a tasty £250,000 excess would be needed (or more) but I suppose its better than forking out about £10 million...

There's a lot more to it than this. Several structural engineers have signed off the works, they could well be in a bit of bother too

There was nothing wrong with the West stand until O'Hare & McGovern started to excavate around the foundations of the stand. They simply did not have the adequate measures in place to keep the foundations in-tact (Sheet piling)

Serious accusation, can you prove it?

Who me? if it's to me then no i can't and i don't care if the whole stadium falls to the ground and is never re-built.