Cooper Street Apartments | 20 Cooper St. | Downtown Waltham

Archibald "Harry" Tuttle said:
These generator exhaust pipes get incredibly hot - like glowing red hot sometimes. Besides the clearance around the exhaust pipe, it also sounds like it may not have been insulated properly, which could be a specification error. These things need serious insulation.
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More curiously, why run it through the interior of the building vs tacked on the exterior somewhere?
 
WormtownNative said:
More curiously, why run it through the interior of the building vs tacked on the exterior somewhere?
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Aesthetics. No architect would ever allow that on the exterior on a brand new building. As engineers, we are constantly fighting with architects about logical/best practices vs their aesthetic demands & because we work for them*, we always lose.

*Owner hires architect, architect hires consulting engineers
 
Would the 3" vs 12" been picked up on final inspection?
 
statler said:
Would the 3" vs 12" been picked up on final inspection?
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It *should* be, yes. It should also be picked up by the engineer on their final punchlist, which should really be done prior to the BFD inspection, but sometimes the engineer's final punch gets done too late.
 
All these buildings are are vertical lumber yards during construction. It's despicable. I have several friends on Waltham Fire who risked there lives putting this fire out. The layout was terrible even if it was made of concrete and steel. 5 separate building units interconnected by 5 floors of wood. Fire Dept was only able to access 2 of the 5 buildings with zero access on the river side and very limited access from the back side. Make housing more unaffordable? Maybe if we are cutting corners and it's not safe during construction that says something. That said when these buildings are fully completed as stated above they have a good record of fire safety. It's during construction that this can happen and it shouldn't be this way. I live 6 blocks away and had embers setting my mulch on fire, my neighbors fence on fire, A street away a porch & fence caught fire and their were many outside fires. You want to build a 3 Story building of light wood frame, go for it. You want to go higher, steel or concrete only. That's how it should be. And if you can't afford it then maybe you shouldn't be building it in the first place.
 
HalcyonEra said:
Not sure if you can blame V/E for the Dot fire, more like shoddy work by the sub...
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Wow, what a risk management fail. Yes the sub screwed up, but this was also enabled by totally inadequate safety systems and processes.

To my mind this reinforces the notion that it's probably possible to build these things safely, but only if we treat them like the highly flammable hazards that they are.

Would a sub have been able to work like this if they were doing something analogous at a gas station, or in an airplane hangar? If these are going to continue to get built, it seems that it can't be 'business as usual' for the trades....talking about strict no smoking, strict management and validation of heat sources like this generator, strict control on other highly flammable materials, plus continuous monitoring for anomalous heat and special capabilities for rapid response and containment...

... there are many many many precedents for this way of working in other industries. These things are just wicked flammable while they're being built, and they need to be treated like the hazards that they are ... it's very doable, just has to get done (and the insurers now how make all this happen too)....
 
CSTH said:
Wow, what a risk management fail. Yes the sub screwed up, but this was also enabled by totally inadequate safety systems and processes.

To my mind this reinforces the notion that it's probably possible to build these things safely, but only if we treat them like the highly flammable hazards that they are.

Would a sub have been able to work like this if they were doing something analogous at a gas station, or in an airplane hangar? If these are going to continue to get built, it seems that it can't be 'business as usual' for the trades....talking about strict no smoking, strict management and validation of heat sources like this generator, strict control on other highly flammable materials, plus continuous monitoring for anomalous heat and special capabilities for rapid response and containment...

... there are many many many precedents for this way of working in other industries. These things are just wicked flammable while they're being built, and they need to be treated like the hazards that they are ... it's very doable, just has to get done (and the insurers now how make all this happen too)....
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The lawyers for the insurers for Callahan, the sub, the architect, the engineering firm and lord knows who else will get dragged in are going to rack up some serious legal fees determining who pays this claim.
 
cca said:
Are you questioning the proposition or what VE is? VE stands for "value engineering". It is synonymous with reducing costs in the process of design. It is also known as cutting corners. It is also known as padding the pro-forma. It is also known as making payments on contractors boats. It is also known as busting architects fees.

Is that what you were asking?

cca
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Yes, just wasn't familiar with the term. Thanks.
 
I would also suggest that using shoddy subs is one of the oldest forms of VE.

It is not explicit in the design, but signaled in the bidding with the subs. (Do whatever you have to do to get this in under $X. And don't tell me what you did!)
 
Start rounding up the local NIMBY's for questioning! Shirley K had better be able to account for her whereabouts when that fire was set. If not then this case just solved itself. :D
 
Rover said:
Start rounding up the local NIMBY's for questioning! Shirley K had better be able to account for her whereabouts when that fire was set. If not then this case just solved itself. :D
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$100K reward if you want to get on that.
 
Callahan is a pretty large non-union contractor with some very notable projects right now, like Assembly Row. Could it be the unions sending a message?
 
Bergeron37 said:
Callahan is a pretty large non-union contractor with some very notable projects right now, like Assembly Row. Could it be the unions sending a message?
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Maybe there were no film crews in town to harass.
 
Just drove by the development site today--the resurrected project is essentially complete, as best I can judge. Truly, what a futile & stupid gesture that arson was.

[to not even speak of its callous disregard for human life, given the context of one of the densest neighborhoods in metro Boston...]
 
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