Case Study about Versailles Wedding Hall
Collapse
Brief Profile of the Building:
The structure was built in 1986 in the Talpiot industrial neighborhood of south-east
Jerusalem. It is three-storey building known as the Versailles Wedding Hall located at Jerusalem,
Israel. Ya'akov Adiv was the building's contractor. On May 24, 2001, during a wedding ceremony
attended by 700 people a large portion of the third floor of the Versailles Wedding Hall collapsed
causing a number of casualties.
Damages: Causes and Effects
Causes
- Inadequate load capacity as a result of poor structural design
-They used Inferior materials in constructing the building and there were design
alterations.
(The Versailles hall was originally intended to be a two-storey building, but a third floor was
eventually added. The story where the wedding took place was initially intended to be a roof,
and hence was not designed to carry the same load as the other levels.)
- The structure was built using the "Pal-Kal method," which has since been outlawed as a
result of the tragedy.
(Pal-Kal method is a cheap, lightweight construction method that uses metal plates and thin
layers of cement.) - Leftkovits, E. (2007) “Pal-Kal inventor gets 4 years in jail’
Effects




380 people were injured and 23 are dead.
The four owners of the building were charged with causing death because of negligence.
The inventor, Engr. Eli Ron of the unsafe Pal-Kal method was jailed for 4 years.
Two contractors and an engineer were arrested charged of negligent assault.
Retrofitting/ Rectification Process Undertaken
The site of the disaster after the demolition
The wedding hall was totally demolished after the disaster. The site remained vacant and sealed
as of 2017. No retrofitting occurred.
https://www.buildersmerchant.com/biggest-construction-failures-of-all-time/