WOBO recognizes the work carried out by Lovegrove and Cotton Lawyers
Mandatory inspections are a vital component of a good practice building regulatory ecology. Risk-correlated building classifications offer a calibrated medium through which mandatory inspections may be targeted. This article discusses how enlightened building regulation must adapt to resource constraints and how this is a key hurdle in the building inspection regulatory paradigm.
Mass Timber High Rises – Some of the Risk Considerations Within an Emerging Paradigm
The writer has watched the timber mass timber building movement gain momentum internationally for a number of years with considerable interest. Some venerated international experts have recently voiced certain concerns.
In a recently published article “Are mass-timber buildings a fire safety risk?” [1] authored by Nat Barker and published by Dezeen (architecture and design magazine), the author began with the observation that:-
“uncertainty among governments and insurers over whether mid-and high-rise timber buildings are safe in a fire remains a key obstacle to the greater adoption of engineered wood buildings.”
There was a further telling observation that:-
“no consensus has been reached across different building code jurisdictions about the safety limitations of building with wood (and more problematically), the rules vary wildly between countries.”