It's just an old building, ...

[Me!]

It's nothing to do with the work !

 

[Zebra]

How surprising, the building contractor's response - "It wasn't anything to do with us!!" Not like a builder at all.
Pity they couldnt get an interview with anybody sensible, just a random passer-by who seems to think the accident was due to its being listed.

 

[malcolm]

The builder's comment ought to be in a Monty Python sketch. Superb logic.

 

[capri1600l]

I'm surprised this has not happened before now wth the rise of the basement extension business.

 

[plasticpigeon]

Kram developments. Classy!

 

[TheRoost]

I'm surprised this has not happened before now wth the rise of the basement extension business.

It's happened a few times, one earlier this year.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2997163/Couple-s-dream-home-collapsed-rubble-botched-basement-dig-sending-eight-months-pregnant-fiancee-early-labour.html

There was another one where the piling caused the street to sink and a neighbours house suffered movement to the point where the occupant was trapped inside because the doors were seized shut.

 

[Flyfisher]

I know it's a rather different scale of engineering, but I watched a programme about the London Crossrail project and ground movement around the excavations were a major issue, to the extent that they fixed highly sensitive movement sensors to surrounding buildings and if there was any sign of movement they immediately took remedial action, such as injecting cement slurry into radiating boreholes under the affected area to stabilise the ground. Fascinating engineering challenges.

 

[plasticpigeon]

Didn't the palace of westminster start to move when the jubilee line extension was being built?

 

[formerly known as]

Bizarrely, I was having a discussion last night with a friend with a damp cellar*, and advising against tanking, as in my opinion, that could lead to increased saturation of the walling and reduced support to the floor/s above, increasing the chance of collapse.

* as a youth, I had a band called 'damp basement' (which arose from the ashes of a former band called 'van burger' ....... )