The emergency shoring of the compromised warehouse on Harbourfront Parade was completed on Saturday afternoon, the third and final day of a structural reinforcement operation that involved fourteen steel props, six engineers, twelve labourers, and a degree of precision that structural engineer Helen Draper described as “entirely routine, provided you do not make a mistake.”

The eastern load-bearing wall of the warehouse — one of seventy-two vacant commercial properties assessed in the Docklands safety audit — had been found with a factor of safety that Draper characterised as “inadequate” in her emergency assessment on 17 March. The shoring operation, overseen by Hallam & Stroud, began on Thursday and proceeded without incident across three days.

“The wall is now supported,” Draper said on Saturday. “The building is stable. The long-term question — whether the wall is repaired or the building is demolished — is a matter for the property owner and the council.”

The property owner is Gerald Ashcroft’s property group, which is contesting both the audit’s findings and the outstanding vacant building levy of approximately 2.35 million florins. Edmond Crayle, Ashcroft’s solicitor, has an appeal hearing before the Municipal Tribunal on 14 April.

Councilwoman Ida Pryce, who is preparing to introduce a motion for a mandatory annual inspection regime at the next full council session, visited the site on Saturday morning. She was accompanied by Fire Marshal Edwin Hale, whose forty-seven-page audit report was presented to the full council on Wednesday.

“Eighteen irregularities across seventy-two properties,” Pryce said. “That is one in four. One in four buildings in this district failed basic safety standards. The inspection regime is not optional. It is overdue.”

Councilman Aldric Voss, who described the regime as “reasonable in principle, pending cost analysis” on Wednesday, has not yet indicated whether he will support the motion. The cost analysis — an assessment of the proposed property registration fee that would fund annual inspections — is expected from the Municipal Treasury by the end of next week.

The fourteen steel props will remain in place until a decision is reached on the building’s future. Draper’s team completed the final inspection at 3:15 PM on Saturday and signed off the structural certification.

“Steel and stone,” Draper said. “They do what they’re told, if you ask them properly.”