Published Saturday 18 July 2026 · By the JustEng team
Today’s briefing covers the forensic engineering investigations and construction disputes making headlines worldwide — and what they signal for forensic engineer recruitment and hiring across the expert witness market.
Genoa bridge verdict: 12-year sentence caps landmark forensic case
Judges in Genoa delivered verdicts on 16 July in the criminal trial over the 2018 Morandi bridge collapse that killed 43 people, sentencing former Autostrade chief executive Giovanni Castellucci to 12 years. Forensic investigation established the collapse was triggered by rupture of load-bearing stay cables on the ninth pillar, corroded over the bridge’s 51-year life (US News/AP).
Hiring angle: Verdicts of this scale show how forensic evidence now drives corporate accountability, and they sustain long-term candidate demand for corrosion, materials and bridge assessment specialists. Forensic engineer recruitment in infrastructure is one of the tightest talent markets we cover at JustEng.
Manhattan high-rise investigation continues after columns buckle
Investigations are ongoing into the former Pfizer headquarters at East 42nd Street, New York, where two structural columns on the 21st floor buckled on 7 July during one of the largest office-to-residential conversions in the city’s history, prompting mass evacuations. Engineers are examining whether additional loads from the widened upper floors overstressed the columns; the building has since been stabilised (NBC News).
Hiring angle: The global boom in office-to-residential conversion is creating new failure modes — and new engineering vacancies for forensic structural engineers who can assess load paths in altered buildings. Expect headhunting activity around conversion-experienced assessment engineers to intensify.
TCC rules fire safety defects do not frustrate £9M lease
In Into Nominee One Ltd v Study Group UK Ltd [2026] EWHC 1201 (TCC), the High Court granted summary judgment for over £9M in unpaid rent, rejecting the tenant’s argument that serious fire safety defects and post-Grenfell legislation had frustrated its 25-year lease. The court held that contractual risk allocation prevailed and the Building Safety Act did not fundamentally alter the parties’ positions (DWF).
Hiring angle: Each fire-safety judgment of this kind generates months of expert work on both sides, keeping expert witness and fire engineering specialists in short supply. Salaries and day rates reflect that scarcity — see our forensic engineering salary guide for current benchmarks.
Mackinac Bridge ship-strike study shows post-Baltimore risk reviews spreading
The Michigan Department of Transportation published findings on 8 July confirming the Mackinac Bridge sits below the threshold risk of collapse from a theoretical vessel collision, following the wave of ship-strike risk assessments commissioned after the Baltimore Key Bridge disaster (Michigan DOT).
Hiring angle: Vessel-collision and structural risk studies are now standard practice for bridge owners worldwide, widening the recruitment pipeline for risk assessment engineers and forensic analysts — a talent shortage that a specialist recruitment agency is well placed to solve.
JustEng is a specialist engineering recruitment agency headhunting hard-to-find forensic and expert witness engineers. Looking for your next role? Submit your CV. Hiring? Register your vacancy today.