A swimming pool was located between northwest side of Block 2 and northeast rear of Block 3.

Block 1
collapsed when 10 continuous days of rainfall led to a landslide after the retaining wall behind the Tower's car
park failed.
[citation needed]

The towers were home to affluent middle-class families; a sizeable percentage of the residents were foreign
expatriates. The Highland Towers were once notorious in the 1980s and early 1990s for being a popular spot for
the wealthy people to hide their mistresses
CAUSE OF STRUCTURAL FAILURE
Behind the Towers was a small stream of water known as 'East Creek'. East Creek flowed into the site of the
Towers before the Towers' construction. Later, a pipe system was built to divert the stream to bypass the Towers.
In 1991, a new housing development project, known as 'Bukit Antarabangsa Development Project', commenced
on the hilltop located behind the Towers. As a result, the hill was cleared of trees and other land-covering plants,
exposing the soil to land erosion that will cause land slide .
The water from the construction site was diverted into the same pipe system used to divert the flow of East
Creek. Eventually, the pipe system became overly pressurized with the water, sand and silt from both East
Creek and the construction site. The pipes burst at various locations on the hill, and the soil had to absorb the
excessive water. The monsoon rainfall in December 1993 further worsened the situation.
The water content in the soil had exceeded a dangerous level, and the soil had literally turned into mud. By
October 1992, the hill slope had been almost flooded with water, and it was reported that water was seen
flowing down the hill slopes and the retaining walls.
Soon after, a landslip took place and destroyed the poorly-constructed retaining walls. The landslide contained
an estimated 100,000 square metres of mud - a mass equivalent to 200 Boeing 747jets. The soil rammed onto
the foundation of Block One, pushing it forward for a while before causing it to snap and bringing down the
apartment block.
A month before the building fell, in November 1993, residents began to see cracks forming and widening on the
road around the Highland Towers, a sign of collapse but unfortunately, no further investigation was carried out.

The retaining walls
The 3 apartment blocks of Highland Towers were built on elevated land with a relatively flat
base. Directly behind it was a steep hill. Though some witnesses have describe the gradient of
this hill to be 10 to 20 degrees but, by my estimate from various photographs tendered as
exhibits, I perceive it to be far steeper. This hill was terraced, supported by retaining rubble
walls made of boulders and cobbles of rock of varying seize placed together by mortar at a
random fashion. Some of these walls had collapsed and were buried in the soil at the time of
the Highland Towers tragedy. Those left are still standing, either in part or as a whole, but in
a dire state of repair. From a physical survey was commissioned by MPAJ soon after the
collapse of Block 1 on the affected area, covering the Highland Towers Site and the Arab
Malaysian Land, it is apparent that these retaining walls were constructed in a haphazardous
manner. Some were located on the Highland Towers Site with the rest in the Arab Malaysian
Land.
Ownership of the slope behind Highland Towers
Both the Highland Towers Site and the Arab Malaysian Land once belonged to a common
owner - the 1st defendant, who intended to develop the entire area into a housing scheme
with 3 apartment blocks on Highland Towers Site and bungalows on the Arab Malaysian
Land. When the lands were subdivided and issued with individual documents of title, the 1st
defendant mortgaged the bungalow lots, consisting of 50 in number, to the 5th defendant in
consideration of some financial arrangements. When the loans were not repaid, the 50
bungalow lots were transferred to the 5th defendant in November 1991 to offset the amount
due.
The East Stream & pipe culvert
At the furthest eastern corner of the Arab Malaysian Land water from a stream, popularly
known as the "East Stream" (which name is totally inappropriate since it actually flows
westward), enters the 5th defendant land. The source of this stream originates from the
Metrolux Land. It flows down hill in a westerly direction until it reaches a plateau where it
forms a mud pond. From here the water is channeled into a set of concrete culverts which
directs it to a pipe culvert (pipe culvert). This pipe culvert runs horizontally right across the
hill slope of the Arab Malaysian Land. After passing through 10 bungalow lots, the water
from this pipe is discharged into Lot 445 which is situated in the north. Lot 445 is a
government land. This entire section of the land, as described, seems unaffected by the
effects of the landslide that brought down Block 1.
The initial section of this pipe culvert was built as an integrated part of a retaining wall. It has
manholes located at various intervals. Just by the side of this pipe culvert, running for some
distance, is an open concrete drain. This was intended to drain surface runoff water while the
pipe culvert catered for the water emanating from the East Stream.
All drainage and geo-technical experts who testified in this case agree that the flow regime of
the East Stream into the pipe culvert running across the hill is highly undesirable and
dangerous. Instead of water flowing along its natural course - downhill (following its natural
terrain), it is now diverted into a man made structure that requires constant maintenance and
supervision. Failure to attend to this will affect slope stability, causing a danger to humans
living down slope. It must have been this concern that, subsequent to the collapse of Block 1,
the rescue operators, upon discovering this unwarranted drainage system of the East Stream,
redirected the flow pattern of this stream to its natural course, downhill in a westerly direction.
They did it by placing sandbags in an area to prevent the flow of water into the pipe culvert.
This is not completely successful since, by my observation during this Court's visit to the area,
water is still detected in the pipe culvert.
Further down slope on the Arab Malaysian Land is network of drains. Those at the upper
sector are earth drains while at the lower portion are made of concrete. These drains, I
believed cater for surface water runoff while the pipe culvert was take care of the discharge
emanating from the East Stream. Though in certain areas these drains are disconnected
abruptly, presumably caused by the landslide that brought down Block 1, those at the upper
level are still intact. But they are in an odd fashion. Starting from the top, a drain runs parallel
for some distance along the pipe culvert. It then suddenly makes a U-turn to flow back in the
same direction from where it came from. Then after proceeding for some distance, it is
connected to a culvert across a road reserve. At this culvert and joining it is a drain coming
from the opposite direction. By deduction, this drain from the opposite caters for water runoff
on the southern side of the slope. From the junction the drain proceeds down hill and
terminates abruptly at far right at a level parallel to the rear of Highland Towers. From an
overall view of the post-collapse survey plan, this drain must have continued along the rear of
Highland Towers until the end of Block 3 when it turned left down hill and drained into the
lower section of the government land - Lot 445.
This drainage pattern too, in the view of all experts in the field of hydrology, is far from
satisfactory. Firstly, large section of drains is earth drains that can be easily eroded. Secondly,
water can infiltrate into the soil of these earth drains at a greater rate than those made of
concrete. Thirdly, the flow pattern of these drains is undesirable. It does not flow naturally
down hill. Instead it makes a number of U-turns, one of which even flows backwards to the
direction where it came from. Fourthly, the drains are insufficient to accommodate the
amount of runoff from the slope. Fifthly, the drains are in a vegetated area and maintenance is
regularly and constantly required.
Before the Arab Malaysian Land was sold to the 5th defendant, Mr. Lim (DW1) was in
charged of the drains on the slope. He ensured water in the drains flowed without
interruptions, particularly from vegetation around it, and when the drains were damaged he
would repaired it. Failure or neglect to ensure these has serious consequences as can
witnessed by the flooding of the car parks at the Highland Towers accompanied by rocks and
mud and a landslide on the slope some months before the collapse of Block 1. This was when
Tropic moved into the Arab Malaysian Land to excavate and cleared the vegetation as well as
leaving branches of trees and debris in the drains.