VIDEO: Enclosed Scaffold Collapses at WI Site
From www.rrstar.com
ROCKFORD — Steel scaffolding collapsed about 9:30 a.m. Monday alongside the former Amerock factory tower that is being renovated into a downtown hotel and conference center.
There were no injuries and no one was working on the 13-story building at the time of the collapse, said Ron Swiggum, vice president of construction for Gorman and Company.
The Wisconsin development firm is renovating the building at 431 S. Main St. into an $87.5 million Hilton Embassy Suites and Rockford Conference Center, which is expected to be completed by December 2019.
The reason the steel scaffolding fell is unclear but being investigated, Swiggum said. Rockford experienced wind gusts of up to 21 miles per hour around the time of the collapse, according to the National Weather Service.
Swiggum said a third-party firm supplied the scaffolding and erected it, but he would not name that business. The scaffolding was wrapped in plastic to keep the heat in to allow masonry and concrete work to cure, he said.
