A landmark tower that collapsed on Sunday morning had shown signs of concrete rot three years ago, a government building expert has told AD.nl.

Arno Schut, a construction consultant for the national heritage agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, said the state of the concrete was not necessarily to blame for the downfall of the Wilhelmina Tower in Valkenburg, Limburg.

But he confirmed an application had been submitted in 2022 for funding to repair the 35-metre structure after concrete rot was found on the sixth floor, just below the top of the tower.

The Wilhelmina Tower collapsed at around 5.30am on Sunday, leaving just a stump where the building had stood since 1906. The hilltop tower was a popular local landmark that attracted around 200,000 visitors a year.

Schut said concrete rot was a common problem in construction and did not always cause buildings to fall down.

“We received the application for a subsidy to patch up the building in 2022, but when we evaluated the application we didn’t have the impression that the building was about to fall down,” he said.

Disaster avoided

“Sometimes it’s just a matter of bad luck. Who knows, if a contractor had stabilised the building a week ago before starting work, maybe nothing would ever have happened.”

Valkenburg’s mayor Daan Prevoo, who has started a crowdfunding campaign to try to rebuild the tower, said the town had narrowly averted a catastrophe.

The tower was temporarily closed for the restoration work, but visitors still flocked to the site to visit the gift shop, cafes and restaurants, luge track and cable car.

“If it had happened a few hours later this place would have been full of families coming here for a sunny Sunday. Then it would really have been a disaster.”

Inspectors from the safety board are due to visit the site on Tuesday to carry out a preliminary survey.