In the
article “Hotel New World Collapse”, Lim (2009) discussed the events leading up
to the collapse of Hotel New World, which was caused by a series of engineering
faults and poor building management.
Hotel New
World was a multi-story building that was constructed by Lian Yak Realty in
1971 and was located at Owen Road. According to Lim, the collapse of Hotel New
World in 1986 was so devastating that it did not leave any walls and columns
standing. After the collapse, rescue teams consisting of both local and foreign
specialists were dispatched. Lim stated that former president Wee Kim Wee
arranged “a commission of inquiry” to inspect the source of the collapse on 22
March 1986. Lim stated that according to the investigation report, the primary
reason for the collapse “was due to inadequate structural design of the
building”. The additional installation on the roof also contributed and
accelerated the collapse. The investigation report also mentioned that visible
“cracks in the column, wall, and floor” were observed before the collapse.
Further investigation showed that the team behind the construction consisted of
unqualified personnel. The absence of proper supervision of structural designs
and maintenance management led to the Hotel New World tragedy.
First
cause of the tragedy of Hotel New World was the insufficient supervision by
qualified personnel such as professional engineer on structural designs. Proper supervision was needed to ensure that the structures were designed by
qualified person to comply with the construction regulations. According to
Thean, Vijiaratnam, Lee, and Broms (1986), the building structure design plans
of Hotel New World was done by an unqualified person without supervision of a
professional engineer. It was also mentioned that the changes made to the
building structural plans were not consulted with the professional engineer (Thean, Vijiaratnam, Lee and Broms 1986). This lack of
supervision of the professional engineer and the communication between the
unqualified person and the professional engineer led to poor structural design
of the building which did not comply with the construction regulations.
Second
cause was the lack of supervision by the government authorities when the building
structural plans were submitted for approval. The government authorities were responsible
to ensure that the construction of the building was carried out under the
supervision of a qualified personnel. In the article “Findings likely to affect
industry professionals”,(1986) it was mentioned that the Development and
Building Control Division, which was responsible for the “processing and
approving development project”, approved the construction of Hotel New World
after examining that the structural designs were endorsed by the “registered professional”.
The article also mention that the Development and Building Control Division
found out about the unqualified person after the collapse of Hotel New World. This
mean that if Hotel New World did not collapse, the government authorities would not have
known about the unqualified person till this day. This showed that the
government authorities were not competent as they failed to identify the building structure
design plans, they had validated were prepared by an uncertified person. If
there had been competent supervision done by the government authorities Hotel New World
would not have faced the tragedy.
Absence
of proper and regular maintenance of Hotel New World was the final cause of
the tragedy. The maintenance management of the Hotel New World was done by the
owners of the building (Thean, Vijiaratnam, Lee and Broms 1986). It was also mentioned that despite
numerous attempts made by the renovation contractor to inform the building
owner about the deteriorations of the building the owner did not make any
amendments. The article “Untrained man
drew the plan”, also mentioned that there was further installation of a water
tank on the roof endorsed by the building manager even though the building was
only designed to carry one water tank “in the building’s motor room”. This
showed that the management of the building was poor and lack the knowledge of
the consequences that could cause by neglecting to make the amendments and the
additional installation. The maintenance management could have prevented the
Hotel New World tragedy with regular inspection done on the building structures
by professional engineers. According to Thean, Vijiaratnam, lee, and Broms
(1986), the maintenance management of the building “did not care about
structural maintenance”.
The
tragedy of Hotel New World was inevitable given all the causes. The supervision
on structural designs by a qualified person, followed by the government to
ensure the construction guidelines have been complied and the role of the owner
in maintenance management of the building were critical factors to prevent
tragedy such as the collapse of Hotel New World.
References:
Lim, T.S.
(2011). Hotel New World Collapse. Retrieved February 10,2020, from https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_783__2009-01-02.html
Untrained
man drew the plans. (1986, September 18). Straits Times, pp. 1.
Retrieved from https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19860918-1.2.2
Findings
likely to affect industry professionals. (1986, October 6). Straits
Times, pp. 10. Retrieved from https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19861006-1.2.22.12?ST=1&AT=search&k=How
to avoid another Hotel New World
disaster&QT=how,to,avoid,another,hotel,new,world,disaster&oref=article-related
Thean,
L.P., Vijiaratnam, A., Lee, S.L., & Broms, Bengt B. (1987). Report
of Inquiry on the collapse of Hotel New World, pp. 14, 28. Retrieved
February 10, 2020, from http://eservice.nlb.gov.sg/data2/BookSG/publish/2/2b6b1c5c-8918-433a-a41e-8d2be8451577/web/html5/index.html?opf=tablet/BOOKSG.xml&launchlogo=tablet/BOOKSG_BrandingLogo_.png&pn=1
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