Former IDE president highlights growing issue of overloading existing buildings.
Woodward’s call comes as the death toll from the recent collapse in Riga, Latvia rises to 54 to join Bangladesh, India and South Korea in the roll-call of nations where an avoidable building collapse has had catastrophic and fatal consequences.
“As a demolition engineer I like to think that I know how buildings may react when subjected to unusual loadings but I am never sure exactly what that reaction will be,” Woodward says. “So how can developers decide to increase floor and roof loadings significantly without a thorough structural check, a set of robust calculations and a sign off from a structural engineer?”
To read Woodward’s full article, please click here.
