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An 18-storey apartment tower at the SNN Raj Etternia residential complex near Kudlu, off Hosur Road in Bengaluru, is set to be demolished just three months after it received an occupancy certificate (OC) from the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), after the developer discovered a structural stability issue that caused the building to tilt.
The tower, which contains 49 apartments, had been completed after four years of construction and was ready for handover when the defect came to light. According to the developer, the building began showing signs of tilting during final load testing, prompting a fresh geotechnical investigation.
The rest of the SNN Raj Etternia project, comprising 14 other residential towers and 972 apartments in total, has not been affected. Of these, 822 apartments have already been handed over to homebuyers.
The developer has written to the GBA seeking permission to demolish the tower over the next six months and reconstruct it within two years. It has also requested that the OC issued for the building be revoked.
GBA Chief Commissioner Maheshwar Rao said the authority would withdraw the OC if the structural reports submitted by the builder were found to be inaccurate.
“The OC was issued based on studies and reports submitted by the builder. If there is something wrong with those reports, we will withdraw the OC and issue notices to the building,” Rao told Times of India.
SNN Raj Corp Director Anuj Sanjay Jain attributed the issue to an error in the original geotechnical investigation.
“With all approvals in place, we were about to hand over the units when we noticed undulations in the slope. A fresh soil investigation revealed that the earlier consultant had interchanged crucial geotechnical readings,” Jain said.
He added that while the building currently appears structurally sound, the flaw could have led to serious issues after a decade.
“Even though the building looks good and intact, it may face issues 10-15 years later. We have therefore decided to completely reconstruct the 49-unit tower,” he said.
Jain said the company had met all affected homebuyers to explain the situation.
“They were disappointed that they will have to wait longer for possession, but they understood the circumstances,” he said, adding that the demolition would be carried out in phases over six months, followed by the reconstruction which is expected to take around 18 months.