BATON ROUGE – Weeks since their last official correspondence with government officials, library designers updated officials on where things stand with the ongoing structural issues of the library project under construction in downtown.

Permanent repair instructions are being reviewed, designers said in a short message with the city. The repair will focus on structural steel frames.

The update Monday comes just shy of a week since city officials asked designers to outline what engineers were doing to immediately stabilize, investigate and formulate a plan after a “simultaneous rupture” of key supports of a cantilevered section of the building in April.

“Detailed measurements of the building are being acquired to establish the limits of structural movement,” designers told city officials in a message that was forwarded to WBRZ Monday afternoon.

The WBRZ Investigative Unit has spent weeks researching and reporting on issues surrounding the library project.

 “The design team has engaged the manufacturers of other building systems to ensure that these components will perform adequately during and after the permanent structural repair,” according to the message provided to the city-parish.

It's not clear who wrote the thoughts or who, specifically, received them.

Repair instructions for other, related building components are in development, designers wrote.

Baton Rouge-based WHLC Architecture  handled the design of the new River Center Branch Library. Contractor Buquet and Leblanc blamed the building design, not workmanship, for the failure.

The contractor has warned of cost overruns associated with the structural failure.   Before the snafu in April, Buquet & Leblanc estimated it could build the library for about $14.5 million.

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