MBOMBELA – Tenants and customers of Tarentaal Centre were shocked when part of the building’s roof collapsed for a second time in less than a month. Parts of Tarentaal SPAR’s roof caved in on December 23. On Friday portion of the roof above TOPS at SPAR collapsed.
Last month Lowvelder reported that Tarentaal SPAR’s staff and shoppers were evacuated when a part of the store’s roof and walls collapsed. No serious injuries were reported.
It was part of the roof of TOPS at SPAR on the adjacent side of the building that fell on three of its employees on Friday. A fourth man who was standing on the roof when it fell in, was also injured. A man and one woman were taken to hospital.
“We are very glad that nobody was seriously injured,” said SPAR Lowveld managing director, Ms Alison Zweers.
“We will only resume trading once the properties have been declared safe. Trading at TOPS at SPAR will likely resume next week,” she said.
Mr Matthew Osterloh is the managing director of Centro Property Group, which manages Tarentaal Centre.
He released a statement that was made available to the Nelspruiters group on Facebook via Tarentaal Centre tenant, Ms Jenny Wilson.
According to this press release, the collapse of the roof on December 23 is being investigated.
Osterloh said that results of the investigation will be released once the cause of the incident has been established.
“The incident that occurred at the Tarentaal TOPS at SPAR on Friday was caused by unrelated planned demolitions to certain parts of the building,” Osterloh said.
He added that Friday’s incident was unrelated to that of 23 December.
Osterloh promised a full investigation into Friday’s incident and said that the building’s safety could be corroborated by an engineer’s report. The report itself was not attached to the press release.
He added that the centre’s other tenants are trading as usual.
On January 8, Lowvelder reported:
MBOMBELA – Tenants at the Tarentaal centre questioned the building’s structural integrity after its roof collapsed for the second time in a month.
The roof of Tops at Spar came down on three of its employees about an hour ago.
Although Tops at Spar reserved official comment, Lowvelder attended the scene and confirmed that four people had been injured.
Three of the liquor store’s employees – two men and a woman – incurred slight injuries. The woman was taken to hospital while the men were treated on the scene.
A fourth man who was reportedly working on top of the structure when the roof fell in, was also taken to hospital, but was not seriously injured.
On December 23, Lowvelder reported that a part of Tarentaal Spar’s roof and walls had fallen in. Read more here:
Portion of Tarentaal Spar building collapses
