Heavy Snow Precipitates Collapse of New Parish Hall

By Irene Lagan
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 2/27/03)

HERNDON — For most people, snow removal and its aftermath have been an exercise in creativity. Apart from last week’s school closings and traffic choked by attempts at snow removal, many are left with mounds of melting snow covering driveways and walkways.

At St. Joseph Parish in Herndon, the we, heavy snow took its toll on a nearly complete $8 million building project, leaving construction crews with the task of removing more than just snow.

The roof of the new parish hall, scheduled to be dedicated on March 19, the feast of St. Joseph, collapsed under the weight of the snow Feb.10. Because the sprinkler system and hot water heating system were operating, the roof collapse left four feet of standing water in the basement. The parish hall was part of a larger construction and renovation project that included two stories of offices, a kindergarten and elementary school, a kitchen and a courtyard. The adjoining structures remain intact.

Moon Kim, supervisor of construction at the diocesan Construction Management Office, said that the roof collapse was "a first" in his experience.

"We don’t know the cause, but we are sure that the snow contributed to the collapse," he said. "The insurance company engineer and other design and structural engineers are analyzing what went wrong."

Architects at the Intec Group, Inc., and the builders, Chamberlain Construction Company, have been contractors with the Diocese of Arlington on numerous other projects. Among the buildings designed by the Intec Group are a recently completed gymnasium at St. Anthony Parish in Falls Church, and the new church building planned for St. Ann Parish in Arlington. In addition, Chamberlain Construction built St. Thomas à Becket Parish Hall in Reston and Good Shepherd rectory in Alexandria last year.

Peter Juanpere, project manager at the Intec group, said that in his 20-plus years experience working with the diocese, nothing like this has ever happened.

"This was very unusual. The roof and structural system was designed to accommodate more than two to three times a snow load than what we had," he said. "The design of the building was a common structural system that has been used many, many times. We have to go through the investigation process to figure out what caused the collapse. Right now, it’s a mangled mess."

The first priority, he said, was to make sure the structure is stable and the adjoining school building safe for children.

"The parish hall was isolated from the rest of the building by fire walls and structural walls. For all practical purposes, it was a separate entity," he said. "The structural walls and foundation are intact."

No one was injured in the collapse, which happened sometime during the night. According to Juanpere, special contracting companies are in the process of shoring and bracing walls and conducting an investigation to ascertain the cause of the collapse.

Kim said no date can be projected for finishing the building.

John D. Rucker, St. Joseph facility superintendent, said Friday that while the source of collapse is still under investigation, the town of Herndon approved the use of the school building on Feb. 24 after structural engineers made sure it was safe. Rucker, whose two daughters attend St. Joseph Elementary School, said he had a "vested interest" in the safety of the building.

"Our number one priority was to make sure the children were safe. Safety is first and we have a contingency plan for the rest of the building that will allow investigators to do their work at the same time," said Rucker. "Both the architects and Chamberlain Construction have gone beyond the call of duty to make sure the building is secure for children."

According to Rucker, construction was 85 percent complete and was ahead of schedule. Fortunately, he said, construction crews can continue working on the remaining two wings of the project once mechanical issues of heating and cooling are worked out. Rucker said the parish was grateful that no one was hurt. "God definitely had his hands on this one. Many things could have gone wrong. There could have been major structural damage, but the roof fell straight down," he said. "The strange thing is that no one even heard the collapse. Any other scenario could have been the case. If this had happened during the workday, there would have been construction workers in the building." 

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