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City Hardens Concrete Testing Protocols

NEW YORK CITY-Buildings commissioner Robert LiMandri says the city is establishing its own concrete testing facility and will re-evaluate sites tested by an indicted private lab.

By Paul Bubny | Updated on September 02, 2009

NEW YORK CITY-The Department of Buildings on Wednesday released its plan for increased oversight of concrete testing, including the establishment of a city-owned and operated laboratory. Also announced were the creation of a concrete unit at DOB and a new re-testing protocol for 82 buildings and construction sites that were mentioned in last October’s indictment against Testwell Laboratories by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. In a release, buildings commissioner Robert LiMandri says the DOB plan will “ensure concrete testing procedures are lawful and the concrete used meets a project’s specific design requirements.” The new protocols come amid a 17-month investigation into the concrete testing industry by the DA’s office.

Following Testwell’s indictment on what the Manhattan DA’s office describes in a statement as charges of falsifying testing documents on concrete and steel for 102 projects including the new Yankee Stadium and 1 World Trade Center, the DOB denied the company’s application to renew its concrete-testing license, although a state Supreme Court judge rejected DOB’s denial of the license renewal. The DOB is appealing the license reinstatement, according to a release.

Calls to Testwell’s current attorney, Paul Schechtman, were not returned by deadline, and company CEO V. Reddy Kancharla was unavailable for comment Wednesday afternoon. When the indictment was announced last October, the company’s then-attorney, Martin Adelman, said Ossining, NY-based Testwell was “disappointed with the charges and will contest them vigorously and looks forward to the restoration of its image in the construction industry.” A trial is scheduled to begin in November.

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