A world-renowned structural engineer who consulted on major disasters like the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon and the bridge collapse at Florida International University has reportedly been hired by the town of Surfside to study the deadly condo building collapse.
Allyn Kilsheimer, founder and CEO of KCE Structural Engineers, will also study the condition of the remaining Champlain Towers building and adjacent similar structures, while providing geotechnical and original-design evaluations, the Miami Herald reported, citing a contract the town executed Sunday.
The company will work with Meuser Rutledge Consulting Engineers, a geotechnical engineering specialist, as well as other consultants and surveyors to study the partial collapse of the 12-story oceanfront Champlain Towers South.
Allyn Kilsheimer has reportedly been hired by the town of Surfside, Florida to study the deadly condo building collapse at Champlain Towers. Michael Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Workers search the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo, on June 28, 2021, in Surfside, Florida. AP/Lynne SladkyAt least nine people are dead, 152 are unaccounted for and 134 are accounted for in the collapse, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a news conference late Sunday.
“As our consultation is in progress, we will, when needed, perform an in-depth evaluation of the cause(s) of the collapse based on the information supplied,” the contract states, the Herald reported.
On Saturday, Kilsheimer toured the “limited, observable and exposed” areas of the underground garages of the Champlain Towers East and North, where he “saw no visible evidence of any major structural concern,” according to a town press release cited by the paper.
“During his decorated career, Kilsheimer has been in direct charge of over $49 billion dollars of construction and has responded to large-scale disasters, both natural and man-made, that require immediate emergency structural shoring, stabilization, selective demolition and reconstruction,” the press release states.
Kilsheimer also examined the Miami-Dade College garage collapse in 2012 and a partial collapse at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris in 2004, according to Florida Politics.
Six people died and 10 others were injured when the Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapsed on March 15, 2018.
