Shaky Foundation

This is not good news for those in the New York City metro area. A testing company responsible for ensuring that concrete poured at projects around the city met the engineering criteria for strength is being investigated for making up bogus results. In fact, investigations have revealed that Testwell Labs falsified results on concrete compression tests:

The company, Testwell Laboratories, has been hired in recent years to analyze the strength of concrete on a raft of public projects, including work for the city, as well as legions of commercial and residential buildings that were constructed in the area. But investigators have discovered evidence indicating that for at least five years, the company has falsified some concrete test results, according to several people who have been briefed on the investigation, being conducted by the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau.

The company has denied the allegations. Because the investigation is not complete, a spokesman at the city’s Department of Buildings said that while some retesting will surely be done, officials were unsure how many buildings they might have to retest. They also have to determine whether to test existing buildings or just those currently under construction.

But as prosecutors analyze evidence seized from Testwell’s offices in June, including detailed computerized records of concrete compression tests, the potential scope of the undertaking facing the city, private builders and developers looms large.

With the city alone, Testwell holds roughly $12 million in contracts and has done millions of dollars in work for the government agencies that build schools, and has done work on bridges and subway tunnels. Among the projects where investigators have uncovered irregularities in the testing are the new Yankee Stadium and the Freedom Tower in Lower Manhattan.

The company denies wrongdoing, but the City will likely have to retest various projects where Testwell provided results.

While engineers note that the structures remain safe since the concrete used in NYC area building projects are high quality, tests will still need to be run to ensure that the structures are up to code.