Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital city, is notorious for frequent building collapses. A risk reduction expert offers five recommendations on how to prevent these disasters.
Several people were injured and homes destroyed after tornadoes touched down in Barrie, Ont., in July 2021.
(Duckdave/Wikimedia)
Engineers, architects and builders can design and construct affordable new buildings that can resist tornadoes, floods and wildfires, but do not. We have that opportunity now.
We must take significant and rapid action now, to ensure cities play their part in limiting dangerous global warming and withstand the climate challenges ahead.
The proposed law does little to give people confidence in the apartments they buy. And it utterly neglects the role of architects and on-site inspections in delivering sound buildings.
The crisis of confidence in the safety and soundness of new apartment buildings won’t end without a decisive response from federal, state and territory governments.
David Crosling/AAP
Unsafe apartments are being evacuated as confidence plummets – even the author of a report commissioned by building ministers wouldn’t buy a new apartment. What will it take for governments to act?
Surf threatens beach houses on Dauphin Island, Alabama, September 4, 2011 during Tropical Storm Lee.
AP Photo/Dave Martin
‘Building back better’ refers to making communities more disaster-proof and resilient after they take a hit. But instead, some US owners are building back bigger homes in vulnerable places.
Government ministers responded to the construction industry crisis by announcing a national approach to implementing recommendations of a report they commissioned in 2017 and received 17 months ago.
Bianca De Marchi/AAP
The construction industry crisis didn’t happen overnight. Authorities have been on notice for years to fix the problems that now have the industry itself calling for better regulation.
Heavily built-up areas can experience more disastrous damage in an earthquake.
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Engineers know how and where to build to minimize earthquake damage. But laws don’t always reflect that wisdom. A new study suggests it’s because of a mismatch between risk perceptions and reality.
Most new houses being built in Australia do no better than comply with the minimum energy performance required by regulations.
Brendon Esposito/AAP
Australia requires a minimum six-star energy rating for new housing. New homes average just 6.2 stars, so builders are doing the bare minimum to comply, even as the costs of this approach are rising.
The Mascot Towers building in Sydney’s inner south is cordoned off after residents were evacuated following the discovery of cracks in the building.
Bianca De Marchi/AAP
Regulations that are meant to protect residents from building failures and fires have been found wanting. All governments must take responsibility for fixing the defective regime they created.
Australia’s new National Construction Code doesn’t go far enough in preparing our built environment for climate change.
Sergey Molchenko/Shutterstock
Fires and building failures highlighted serious gaps in Australian building regulations. But recent revisions and recommendations still fall short of preparing our buildings for climate change.
The burden of regulatory failure hasn’t just hit residents of evacuated apartments like the Neo200 building in Melbourne – it affects everyone living in a building with serious defects.
Ellen Smith/AAP
Years of regulatory failure are having direct impacts on the hip pockets of the many Australians who bought defective houses or apartments. It’s turning into a multibillion-dollar disaster.
Can Australians be confident that the new National Construction Code will ensure new buildings avoid structural defects like those that led to the evacuation of the Opal Tower (left) in Sydney?
Dylan Coker/AAP
Under the new code, buildings are hardly likely to differ measurably from their fault-ridden older siblings and can still fall short of a six-star rating. It’s possible they may have no stars!
About 100 homes in Angus, Ont. were damaged by a tornado in June 2014. Ten lost their roofs and had to be demolished.
Gregory Alan Kopp, Western University
Weather-related catastrophic events have cost Canadians more than $17 billion in the past decade. That only stands to grow, unless building codes change to make homes more resilient.
Flames spread rapidly up the external wall cladding at the Lacrosse building in Melbourne in November 2014. More than four years on, the combustible panels are still in use.
MFB
Architects, certifiers and engineers who work as consultants to builders are on notice about potential liability for the use of flammable cladding, but governments are also culpable for their actions.
Residents evacuated from the Neo200 building in Melbourne were unaware of the fire risk posed by its cladding.
Ellen Smith/AAP
As more and more Australians live and work in high-rise buildings, their responsibilities and roles in ensuring all occupants’ safety must not be neglected.
The 392 apartments in Opal Tower (centre) were evacuated on Christmas Eve when residents heard loud cracks and defects were found.
Paul Braven/AAP
While Opal Tower residents are more badly affected than most, up to 80% of multi-unit buildings have serious defects. Here’s what government can do right now to fix the industry.
Across our growing cities more and more buildings are going up, as are their emissions.
Andy Brownbill/AAP
Australia’s commitments to cut emissions are on a collision course with urban growth. We need a much more comprehensive strategy to make the transition to a sustainable built environment.
About 300 people were evacuated from Sydney’s Opal Tower after a loud cracking sound was heard on December 24 and a large crack appeared on the 10th floor.
Paul Braven/AAP
It’s tempting to blame building certifiers and the fact they are privately employed. But the cracks in the quality of our apartment buildings go deeper and can be fixed.
What does a green star rating – One Central Park apartments in Sydney received five stars, for instance – actually mean?
AAP
Buildings are central to creating more sustainable cities, and green ratings are often used to assess how well a building measures up against this goal. But the current system has serious flaws.