A BUILDING site manager who worked at the site where a 200ft crane collapsed claimed structural engineers were solely responsible for a crucial change to the machinery’s foundations.
Mark Forshaw, from main contractor Bowmer and Kirkland, told Liverpool crown court he was “left in no doubt” by Steve Huddleston, from structural engineer Bingham Davis Ltd, about how to redesign the crane’s base.
Days later it toppled over, smashing into the Chandlers Wharf apartments just off The Strand and ejecting driver Iain Gillham.
He suffered horrific injuries which left him paralysed from the waist down.
Both firms blame each other for the crash, which caused millions of pounds of damage at the Kings Dock Mill site.
The court heard Mr Forshaw and Mr Huddleston, from the two respective companies, held important discussions about how to reconfigure the tower crane’s base when they hit problems.
Mr Forshaw told the jury: “I spoke to Mr Huddleston several times on the phone to ask, ‘where do we go from here?’
“He gave me a clear resolution to cut a 32mm bar off, leaving it as high as we could to the top of the plinth and replace it with four reinforcing bars which needed to be inserted into the pile [part of the foundation].
“He was very clear and concise in his instructions on how to overcome the problem.”
