• Five professionals involved in the design and construction are judged in Angers.

  • The first day of the trial was devoted to examining their professional background.

The architect of the Le Surcouf residence in Angers (Maine-et-Loire), whose balcony collapsed in 2016 killing four students, rejected this Wednesday any involvement in the technical design of the building.

On the first day of this long trial, the man and the four other defendants with no criminal records, key players in the building construction chain, first retraced their professional career.

A graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris and Columbia University, the architect Frédéric Rolland, 66, presented himself as a "man of the art", turned "exclusively on the search for the creation of a concept ".

“An architect will never be an engineer or a calculator.

At no time do I calculate slabs and reinforcement”, specified the one who was however project manager of the site, explaining that he was trained “with experience” in site monitoring.

At the time of the tragedy, Frédéric Rolland was busy setting up a law firm in Shanghai.

“We remain forbidden to hear him say that, for years, he has only been practicing his profession for aesthetics even though he should do it for safety, reacted after the hearing Me Louis-René Penneau, lawyer for 32 civil parties.

We are a little shocked.

»

"I can't forget 2016"

The builder Patrick Bonnel, 72, former manager of the family business that bears his name, holds a BTS as a works supervisor.

“My father asked me to join the company in 1976, I jumped on the bandwagon,” he explained.

Also implicated, works foreman Eric Morand, 53, father of six children, joined Bonnel in 1994. “I cannot forget 2016, he confided at the helm.

I have a daughter born in 2016 who has multiple disabilities, so I can't forget 2016”

Asked about his qualifications, site manager Jean-Marcel Moreau, 63, retired, said he had no diploma, having learned his trade "on the job" at Bonnel, at the age of 18, after working at the farm.

André de Douvian, 84, a former public works engineer, spent three quarters of his career in the private sector before joining Apave, a technical control office.

The incriminated builders

In their conclusions, the investigators had ruled out the responsibility of the guests who were on the balcony and the hypothesis of a lack of maintenance by the trustee.

On the other hand, they severely incriminated the builders: waterlogged concrete, offhand supervision of the construction site, arrangements with construction rules, poor positioning of the steel reinforcements... Above all, the balconies which were initially to be prefabricated in the factory were finally poured on the spot without new plans being made.

A total of 83 people joined as civil parties.

During the investigation, Eric Morand is the only one to have recognized a share of responsibility, explaining that the change in the method of construction of the balconies had made it possible to save fourteen weeks on the work schedule.

The trial is due to last until March 4.

Justice

Collapsed balconies of Angers: Why the trial that opens is out of the ordinary

Justice

Collapsed balconies of Angers: Five years after the tragedy, the long trial of the builders begins

  • Construction

  • Trial

  • Angers

  • Justice

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