Windsor Building fire: Madrid

[SteveH75]

I'm no specialist in architecture, so I'm intrigued about the plight of the Widsor Tower in Madrid.

First of all, I'm so glad that there was no loss of life. This is always the major concern, but now what to do safely to proceed.

I was contemplaing that with the WTC, if the horrendous loss of life could have been avoided, then the fact the towers fell down saved months of work. Would it have been possible to demolish such a structure in the centre of a city with minimal damage - and is this what will have to be done if the Windsor Building stays up?

If it fell down then insurance claims go in from all around but in the modern world, if a demolition team take the tower down and the same damage was caused I wouldn't be surprised if this company would be sued as being liable for the damage. No win situation for them.

I'm interested to hear from anyone with a view on this - or with knowledge of demolition as to options to proceed (by the way - I don't work for Madrid council and am looking for free advice ... ci!?)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4263667.stm

[cassimer]

In Las Vegas they managed to take down massive casinos without damaging the surrounding area... But i guess its a bit harder in the confines of a city.

[mludecke]

good question.  I have also wondered what would  be done in the instance.  It would almost certainly be better if the building would collapse on it's own.  but this is not the case in this instance.  Your queston is mostly a legal one; as to who is responsible if a demolition company procedes, and something goes wrong.  I think that you are more interested in the mechanics of actually getting what remains of the building down safetly.  This is a much harder task. 

[SuomiRo]

Hi Steve, I just found this site and question because I was looking for information myself. I have just come back from Madrid and stumbled across the building. It appears that (from my observation) they have a crane stablisinga segment at a time, so they can bring down a segment at a time. For example, there was some welding and securing of parts of the highest and most fragile part of the building that appeared to be lowered. You can seem my photos here if you excuse the tourist snaps. http://rowena.smugmug.com/gallery/454304