A friend who was relocating overseas needed a home valuation. The high-end property on a tall building was amazing. Fantastic views, terraces, large open layouts, a truly dream residence.
He wanted a quick sale at a bargain price, much lower than the market value and suggested that I should buy it myself. It was a lifetime opportunity. The block is a mixed use, with open plan restaurants and commercial space on the lower floors.
The commercial areas and underlying garages were mainly on columns, creating lower level dangerous ‘soft storeys’. There was a staircase and luxury lifts that are the sole means of access to the block. I wondered how the soft storeys would react during a long tremor or earthquake and how one would exit the building in the case of a fire in the lower floors’ commercial kitchens or car park.
The building aesthetically looked amazing but I was not convinced that I would feel safe in it. During a natural disaster or large fire, I felt that it would be unlikely that anyone on the mid and upper floors would exit in time to survive. This dream home could be a death trap.
On February 6, 2023 an earthquake hit Turkey, thousands of buildings collapsed and 53,000 people were killed in structural failures. In a newly built upmarket resort, similar to the ones being locally built, 300 people died, and an investigation and forensic analysis by The New York Times found a tragic combination of poor design and minimum oversight that left the building vulnerable,.
