A court hearing for construction giant Grocon over a wall collapse that killed three people could hear from up to 55 witnesses across 11 days, a magistrate has been told.
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A magistrate on Monday granted lawyers for the Grocon group more time to go through material from Victoria's workplace safety watchdog, which is prosecuting the construction group and another company, Aussie Signs, over the wall collapse in Swanston Street in which Alexander Jones, 19, his sister Bridget, 18, and French academic Marie-Faith Fiawoo, 33, died.
Ms Fiawoo and the siblings were outside Grocon's building site at the CUB Brewery in Carlton when a wall collapsed on them in high winds on March 28 last year.
Aussie Signs was contracted to hang an advertising hoarding 80.5 metres long and 3.2 metres high on the masonry wall.
Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Monday that lawyers for the Grocon group wanted six weeks to go through witness statements and more than 600 documents so they could determine the duration for a committal hearing.
Ross Ray, QC, representing Grocon (Victoria Street) Pty Ltd, said he wanted to inspect the material so he could give the court a better estimate on the duration of the committal hearing.
Prosecutor Christopher Beale, QC, for Worksafe, said most of the material would be ready to be passed on within the next fortnight.
Mr Beale said investigators were still to interview a Grocon employee because the man had told them earlier this month he was unwell. He was yet to provide a medical certificate, the court heard.
Three arms of the Grocon group – Grocon Pty Limited, Grocon Builders (Vic) Pty Ltd and Grocon (Victoria Street) Pty Ltd – are each charged with one count of failing to ensure "persons other than your employees were not exposed to risks to their health and safety arising from the conduct of your undertaking" and one count each of failing to ensure a workplace was safe and without risks to health.
Aussie Signs faces one count each of the same two charges.
In documents previously released by the court, Worksafe alleges the companies failed to obtain a building permit for the advertising hoarding, failed to produce a detailed design for how the wall and hoarding were to be braced, did not obtain a risk assessment on how wind would affect the wall, and did not have a structural engineer assess the wall once the hoarding was attached.
Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg ordered the parties to return to court for a further mention on October 6. The date for the committal hearing is yet to be set.
The state coroner is also scheduled to investigate the wall collapse, but only after the criminal proceedings have finished.
