Ronan Point Disaster 1968 Group 1 Presentation

Background Post war London Housing crisis Solution - High rise housing high density of occupation high density of occupation Short construction time Short construction time Low cost Low cost Pre-cast concrete

The Event 6:00am 18 th May 1968 Minor Gas explosion on 18th floor Person still alive Person still alive Did not even damage her hearing Did not even damage her hearing Two walls blown out All the corner apartments above floor 18 collapsed onto 18th floor Caused all floors below to collapse

Floor 18 Apartment 90 Luckily only 4 people killed - As most people were asleep in bedroom at time of incident 17 injured The occupant of apartment 90 survived

Technical Factors Designed using Larson-Nielson Method The Larsen-Nielson system was composed of factory built, pre-cast concrete components designed to minimize on-site construction work This building system was intended for buildings with only six stories. It had no fail-safe mechanisms.

Human Factors Wind design codes were out of date with new building heights Extremely poor construction quality

Conclusion Primarily no redundancy in design All walls load-bearing All walls load-bearing No alternative Load Paths No alternative Load Paths Poor Workmanship The tower block was an accident waiting to happen.

Lessons First significant instance of “Progressive/Disproportionate Collapse” Brought awareness of greater need for quality workmanship The need to keep building codes up to date with new new building techniques The dangers of over-reliance on building codes