Failure Histories of Three Masonry Structures: Liability of the Professional Figures Involved during the Design and Construction Phases

A complex scenario of professional figures, clients, agreements, contract obligations, services, works, and execution technologies lies behind the collapse of three masonry structures during the consolidation of their foundations. The case histories involve different type of buildings (a tower, a residential building and an old factory) located in Northern Italy. Although the buildings were different, they collapsed substantially for the same causes. In front of similar structural mechanisms, from each case history completely different lawsuits were derived both in criminal prosecutions and in civil litigation. This is because the liability identification of each figure, not only technical, is difficult, in current legislation, where the responsibility ambits are not always clear and are often subjected to different interpretations. The reason of this uncertainty in legislation is due to the rapid evolution of standards/legislations/regulations in order to transpose the rapid evolution of technology, economy, and safety characterizing the last two decades. The legislation has also created several new technical figures, whose liability ambits are not always clear as far as their contract obligations. There is obviously a need for a better legislation system, both in Italy and in Europe, in order to guarantee a more clear definition of the activities and of the obligations of each figures involved in construction works.