The Surfside Condo Tower Collapse, July 2021. Courtesy, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue
The entire world watched the June 24 Champlain Towers South condominium collapse …and we all said either in a group or silently in prayer that this should never happen again. The Building Officials Association of Florida (BOAF) feels the same way and held a summit last week with building code and structural safety professionals to talk about ways to prevent any building and its residents from suffering this fate.
The West Palm Beach summit opened with a moment of silence in remembrance of the 98 lives lost in the tragedy and then dug into discussions of maintenance standards, periodic inspections, electrical and waterproofing reviews because “buildings are getting older” and as one of the participants said to me, “these buildings aren’t like a fine wine that does better with age.” Palm Beach County, as an example, is considering a new program that calls for recertification of buildings east of Interstate 95 every 25 years. Buildings west of Interstate 95 would be recertified every 35 years.
The best and brightest from the International Code Council, the National Institute of Building Sciences, BOAF, the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), and the Florida Bar’s Condominium Law and Life Advisory Task Force spent the entire day together and the Florida legislature has openly discussed that there will be special committees in the House and Senate to look at state statutes and determine if changes should be made to them. We can take comfort that there are some very smart people doing their best to address Florida’s aging buildings and LMA will follow this work and participate in it. Please let us know if you would like to offer insight, perspective and input and we will plug you in!
See you on the trail,
Lisa
LMA Newsletter of 8-23-21
