Official admits to building code violations near Cologne archive
DPA/The Local - [email protected]
Published: 16 Mar, 2009 CET.
Updated: Mon 16 Mar 2009 08:38 CET
Two weeks after the dramatic collapse of Cologne's historical archive left two people dead, a city official has admitted to building code violations in the area.
Marlies Bredehorst, head of Cologne’s environmental department, said on Sunday that 15 wells had been drilled in the immediate vicinity of the archive building since last September – instead of the four allowed by city code.
Although Bredehorst emphasised there was not yet proof that this led to the March 3 collapse, there has been speculation that too much groundwater was pumped out from under the city centre structure. The archive slid into a nearby construction site for a new metro tunnel, tearing down adjacent houses with it.
The city's public transit authority maintains that the underground works were not to blame for the accident.
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Marlies Bredehorst, head of Cologne’s environmental department, said on Sunday that 15 wells had been drilled in the immediate vicinity of the archive building since last September – instead of the four allowed by city code.
Although Bredehorst emphasised there was not yet proof that this led to the March 3 collapse, there has been speculation that too much groundwater was pumped out from under the city centre structure. The archive slid into a nearby construction site for a new metro tunnel, tearing down adjacent houses with it.
The city's public transit authority maintains that the underground works were not to blame for the accident.
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