DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708280534
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   35 lines

U.VA. BALCONY THAT COLLAPSED DID NOT MEET CODE, REPORT SAYS

A balcony that gave way in May shortly before the University of Virginia's graduation, killing one person and injuring 18, did not meet state building codes, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report also confirmed initial findings that a brittle, corroded iron rod that had supported the veranda snapped, plunging about two dozen people onto a concrete walkway 15 feet below.

Mary Jo Brashear of El Paso, Texas, the grandmother of a graduating medical student, died in surgery after the fall.

About 10,000 relatives and friends of Virginia graduates turn out each year for the commencement on the Lawn, the centerpiece of the campus that university founder Thomas Jefferson designed in the early 1820s.

The balcony and five others like it were packed with spectators when the accident occurred the morning of May 18. All of the verandas were evacuated and closed immediately.

The report said all six balconies failed to meet the building code. Scaffolding now surrounds all of them as crews replace the iron support rods with new stainless steel ones.

``We've taken every precaution with the remaining balconies,'' said Robert P. Dillman, the university's chief facilities officer. ``No one is allowed on them until the rods are replaced.''

Virginia is spending from $400,000 to $750,000 on renovations to the buildings and another $250,000 on medical expenses for the injured, university chief financial officer Leonard Sandridge said.

The design - also the work of Jefferson - was not at fault, the report by the engineering firm of Whitlock Dalrymple Poston & Associates said.

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