Editor: If the property sector handled disasters like Grenfell as seriously as the airline industry takes its disasters, we would not have witnessed the horrific fatal fire in Valencia last month.
It defies belief that all these years after Grenfell, the same issues still arise. Not only did Valencia have the same cladding, but the fire alarms were not working. This is 2024.
I find it incredible that there are still buildings in the UK with flammable cladding, more than six years after Grenfell. Lessons are not being learnt.
The fire in Valencia, Spain, on 22 February led to the deaths of 10 residents; then a fire in a 34-storey building in Nanjing, China, the following day led to the deaths of 15 residents.
We must change how we assess the exponential risks we are witnessing. Increasing risks include the recharging of so many electronic devices. The Nanjing fire ignited on the first floor due to a bike battery, spreading up to all 34 floors. The Aldgate East fire in London in 2022 was caused by the same issue, which started on the 17th floor, destroying floors above.
Indifference to safety is endemic in the property sector. The utter lack of basic controls is beyond belief. These issues can all be managed and resolved, but it will take governments, the insurance sector, constructors and fire regulators to grow a backbone and stop allowing property management to play with people’s lives while lax attitudes and an unwillingness to digitalise systems persist.
There will be more disasters unless attitudes change now. High-risk buildings require a move to black-box systems – real-time safety controls to ensure the sector adopts the sorts of measures the airline industry relies on.
By embracing digital twins, fire sensor systems, real-time-alerting ‘Internet of Things’ solutions, there can be a digitalised record for high-risk buildings. The insurance sector must now incentivise real-time systems to control risks and reward those willing to care.
Paul Sheedy, founder and chief executive, Unifi.id
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