First Grenfell, London, then Champlain Towers, Florida, and 10 weeks ago today, Wang Fuk, Hong Kong.
A trilogy of residential high-rise tragedies in multi owned properties. Three different countries, three different causes, three different sets of laws about building construction and safety, but one result - mass deaths, casualties, and displacement.
Sue Bright from Oxford describes them as ‘property moments’. Evan McKenzie, at the last International Forum on Multi-Owned Properties in Spain 2024, described them as ‘focusing events’ – disasters that persuade government that there is problem and start a process of legislative and regulatory reform.
In Australia, we have had our own trilogy of property moments - focusing events. Fortunately, either through good management or good luck – a matter yet to be studied - we have avoided the deaths that have happened elsewhere, nevertheless, our three high rise failures send a chill down the spine of all who study them.
Lacrosse, Melbourne was a cladding fire that in 2014 pre-dated Grenfell. It spread 13 floors in less than 8 minutes and resulted in a damages award of more than $12M against the builder. Opal Tower, Sydney was evacuated sensationally on Christmas Eve 2018 due to structural cracking. Mascot Tower, also in Sydney, was evacuated in 2019 when it began to subside - probably due to a combination of building defects, adjoining construction work and failure to remedy known defects – the trifecta of causes that brought down Champlain Towers with a much more tragic result.
My research is concerned with why these things are happening. More specifically, what impact have laws about building safety had - and might have - on the decision making of the parties in these cases responsible for the delivery and ongoing safety of these buildings.
My presentation to the 8th International Forum on Multi-Owned Properties this week, was a subset of this research and looks at the law reforms that have occurred in London, Florida and New South Wales, since these property moments occurred.
Read more here.
Michael Teys advises strata management businesses on improving profitability through professionalisation and streamlined operating systems.
He has more than 30 years’ experience as a strata lawyer and academic and has owned 11 strata management agencies throughout Australia. He has a Master of Philosophy (Built Environment) and Bachelor of Laws. He lectures and writes widely about strata management issues in Australia and internationally.
