A bedroom window and balcony paneling in a senior citizens’ building on Fannborg in Kópavogur were severely damaged when corrugated metal sheets and other debris from a partially demolished building were blown into it yesterday. It appears that no precautions had been taken to prevent debris from the site from being carried away by the wind, despite a yellow weather warning being imminent.
Residents say the contractor’s handling of the site shows serious negligence and are calling for accountability for the damage.
“It’s as if they didn’t even check vedur.is to see what the weather would be like, and then of course it just starts blowing hard, as has been forecast for an entire week,” said Kolbeinn Reynisson, a municipal councillor for Vinir Kópavogs, in an interview with mbl.is.
At the beginning of the year, demolition work on the building was suddenly halted when it was revealed that no permits had been in place for the demolition.
According to Reynisson , demolition had been ongoing for several weeks, but work was stopped over Easter even though more than half the building still remained. The structure was left “wide open.”
He believes the contractors were alerted when the first metal sheets began to blow loose and struck the neighboring building at Fannborg 8, breaking a bedroom window and damaging balcony paneling in the senior housing.
“I think they then went there and tried to fix it, but as you can see in the video, they only made things worse,” he said.
No safety measures had been put in place to protect pedestrians or vehicles passing through the area, and according to witnesses, many people had to run for safety to avoid the flying debris.
“The damage is now done and the building has been harmed, but what is most serious is the danger that was created at that moment,” Kolbeinn said. “There’s a clear sense of carelessness about this.”
Source: icelandmonitor.mbl.is
