Federal investigators have zeroed in on flaws in the pool deck as the preliminary cause of the 2021 collapse of a 12-story Florida beachfront condominium building that killed 98 people.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology stated in a report Wednesday that the Champlain Towers South pool deck began falling at least seven minutes before the tower, suggesting the pool dragged the building down with it.

Glenn Bell, co-lead investigator at NIST, said detailed analysis and computer simulations “indicate that it is more likely that the failure started in a pool deck slab-column connection.”

Most residents were asleep when the building in Surfside, Florida collapsed into a huge pile of rubble at 1:22 a.m. on June 24, 2021. As the investigation continued, a Miami judge approved a settlement exceeding $1 billion for personal injury and wrongful death claims from the disaster.

NIST said its final conclusions on the collapse will be released in spring or summer 2026.

The preliminary findings also showed the “building was in distress in the weeks before the collapse.” Among the indicators of deeper-seated problems were a door that dislodged from its frame, cracks in a wall where heavy planters were located and a gate that shifted and became jammed shut.

The day before the disaster, the NIST report states, water was leaking from a parking garage ceiling that had gained numerous cracks. The flow “dramatically increased in the hours before the collapse.”

NIST previously said the construction flaws that led to the collapse were present from the time the 40-year-old structure was built. The findings of the Champlain Towers investigation will improve building safety, both in new construction and in repairs for older structures, investigative lead Judith Mitrani-Reiser said.

“This tragic event has revealed flaws in our systems, and quality is at the heart of it,” she said.

After the collapse, state legislators in 2022 enacted a law requiring condo associations to have sufficient reserves to cover major repairs. Some residents were caught off guard by hefty fees imposed to cover years of deferred maintenance expenses required to bring their buildings into compliance with the law’s standards. That led to another law providing condo associations and residents more flexibility in handling the costs.

Meanwhile, at the collapse site, a few miles north of Miami, a luxury condo building called the Delmore is being constructed. The site was purchased at auction by Dubai-based DAMAC International for $120 million. Construction is expected to finish by 2029, with a starting price of $15 million each for the new condos.

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LONDON — The U.K. government has announced plans to dismantle the remains of London’s Grenfell Tower, almost eight years after the deadliest fire in Britain since World War II swept through the apartment building and killed 72 people.

Some of those who lost loved ones in the fire that broke out in the early morning of June 14, 2017, have criticized the decision because they wanted to preserve the building’s charred skeleton as a monument to those who died.

But the government said it would be unsafe to leave the structurally unsound hulk in place. While acknowledging different points of view, the government in essence sided with those who have argued that redeveloping the site would help the community heal by removing the remains of the 24-story tower, which looms over the surrounding neighborhood as a constant reminder of the tragedy.

“Grenfell Tower will be carefully taken down to the ground,” the government stated. Materials will be returned to the site so they can become part of a memorial that will be designed by an independent commission.

Grenfell Tower has become a symbol of government failure, corporate greed and inequality since the fire, which triggered an overhaul of building regulations across the country. Residents of the public housing project in North Kensington, a low-income neighborhood that is part of one of Britain’s wealthiest boroughs, say their safety concerns were repeatedly ignored by local government.

A public inquiry concluded that decades of failures by government, regulators and industry turned the building into a “death trap.”

The investigation found no “single cause” of the tragedy, but said a combination of dishonest companies, weak regulation and complacent government authorities resulted in the building being remodeled with combustible exterior cladding that allowed a small refrigerator fire to spread rapidly, trapping dozens of residents in their homes.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who also heads the government’s housing and local government ministry, conducted a series of meetings with survivors and family members before deciding what to do with Grenfell, the government said. She met with them again on Feb. 5 to give them advance notice of the decision that was announced two days later.

Grenfell United, which represents some of the bereaved, said it appeared that none of those who attended the Feb. 5 meeting supported the government’s decision.

“Ignoring the voices of bereaved on the future of our loved ones’ grave site is disgraceful and unforgivable,” the group stated.

But Grenfell Next of Kin, a separate group for survivors of the fire, said the decision was “very sensitive and difficult” and its members “understand the hard facts around safety.”

To allow crews to dismantle Grenfell sensitively, the government is budgeting for a project lasting around two years. The work won’t begin until after the eighth anniversary of the disaster in June.

But the statement also made clear that there was little room for further discussion.

The tower was significantly damaged by the fire and has remained stable only because of additional props put in place to preserve it, according to the government.

“The condition of the building will continue to worsen over time,” the government stated. “Engineers also advise it is not practicable to retain many of the floors of the building in place as part of a memorial that must last in perpetuity.”

Equity for all the bereaved families also played a role.

“Taking the engineering advice into account, the Deputy Prime Minister concluded that it would not be fair to keep some floors of the building that are significant to some families, whilst not being able to do so for others and knowing that, for some, this would be deeply upsetting,” the government stated.

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