SUN EDITORIAL:

Problems at CityCenter

Revelation that an inspector made errors, lacked experience is just part of a larger issue

Sunday, July 5, 2009 | 2:06 a.m.

In the investigations into construction problems at the Harmon building at CityCenter, there has been a game of finger-pointing among the major players. The most recent round has focused on the inspectors who signed off on the work as it was completed.

As Alexandra Berzon reported in Wednesday’s Las Vegas Sun, two of the private inspectors responsible for reviewing the work issued 62 notices saying there were no problems.

An engineer later found that reinforced steel was improperly installed on the building’s first 15 floors before being encased in concrete. The problem has delayed construction as CityCenter owner MGM Mirage reworked the plans, cutting 21 planned floors.

As required by Clark County, MGM Mirage hired private inspectors to review the construction to make sure it conformed to plans. The inspectors overseeing the reinforced steel installation at the Harmon building were working for Converse Consultants.

During a meeting with Clark County officials last fall, one of the inspectors reportedly admitted he made an error by approving items that were not in compliance with the plans. According to minutes of the meeting, he also acknowledged that until the Harmon project, he had never read plans without help from another inspector.

A consultant hired by Converse blamed the inspectors for the problems, not the company. He suggested a number of reasons the inspectors could have failed to report the problem, from incompetence to “something more nefarious.” A hearing officer is expected to rule this week on whether Converse should be punished, and he could suspend or revoke the company’s license to do inspections in the county.

No matter the decision, it is clear the inspectors failed. So did the company they worked for. However, the investigation shouldn’t end with just the company and its inspectors. There were experienced contractors building the project and Clark County monitors were supposed to be reviewing the inspectors’ work. Why didn’t they catch the problem?

The bottom line is that this was a failure at all levels. Clark County should strengthen its oversight to prevent problems like this from happening again.

Discussion: 4 comments so far…

By POWERPLAY

7/5/09 at 3:25 a.m.

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I do not know anything about the building industry but this sounds like a large corporation running roughshod over a small state (Nevada) and they won. How is a small state like ours suppose to oversee inspecting a 10 billion dollar project with everything else going on at the same time all around town. This is what happens when (Corporate America) go's uncheck.
By fremmasmind

7/5/09 at 4:52 a.m.

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Starting with the general contractors they had to study the plans to produce a bid for MGM. The rod busters had to review the plans to come up with a bid for structural steel work. The set of plans for any project are the brain of that project.
Neither one of these contractors were aware of the Specifications in the plans? They even put little pictures in the plans to show us construction workers what we should be looking at. No one caught the problem. Of course no one is talking.
We have had and are having some of the largest (and most expensive) construction projects in the world taking place in our city. They'd probably still be building the Harmon if someone hadn't talked.
By Patrick_R_Gibbons

7/5/09 at 7:38 a.m.

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Does the Greenpsun family have a financial stake in seeing this project fail? I'm just curious because this newspaper writes about it an awful lot.
By Man_o_Steel

7/5/09 at 9:28 a.m.

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I thought that the Union labor would produce a high quality product without the inspections. Obviously the union rod busters and the inspectors are incompetent. This is not an issue of a large corporation running roughshod., It is a lack of quality control on one of the largest construction projects in the world. Whether or not these defects compromise the structural integrity of the building is for the engineers to determine.