Thai Court upholds ruling on Soi Ruamrudee highrise

[Songlaw]

What would be the purpose, or sense, of partly demolishing the building?

There is an article further down the thread that explains that legally it could be trimmed from 20 to 8 floors. I guess that would be considered by some to be an option. But having witnessed a newly constructed residential building, unmolested, decide to shed it's entire concrete facade onto the vehicles (thankfully empty) parked below, I would not put a lot of faith in the integrity of the remaining 8 floors once this "feat of engineering" is completed. Not to mention all the potential hijinks that could ensue on the "demolition site" if this is even attempted. Fortunately, TIT, so there should be (as was mentioned elsewhere on this thread) sufficient stalling tactics available for the owners to recoup a significant portion of their initial investment before having to seriously entertain either option.

[OPG]

Not familiar with the building, but if the soi is short enough, buy a string of buildings on one side or the other and widen the soi to 10 meters. The land holders would probably only want about 5 times market value. Do the math and check the viability. The problem would seem to be traffic congestion on the soi, one would think. With the land bought one could make parking or a planted attractive walkway along the side, as well as widening. It could be a plus. It all depends on the length of the soi.

If you know the Soi and what is next to and across from Aetas (which it is this place), you'll then understand that your solution to the matter is not possible and if it was possible, I don't think All Season's and the Conrad would give up their location, since Ruamrudee and Wireless Road area are the most sought after in Bangkok. The only thing I can see happening and I don't know if the court would accept it, is to pay to make the street wider just from the beginning of the Aetas to the end of Aetas, since the area they have is quite long and from what I know...there's plenty of space in front of Aetas to widen the street to more than 10 meters. That should work if the court allows it.

[Tycoon]

What would be the purpose, or sense, of partly demolishing the building?

Come on, common sense please as it means they want start on the building being knocked down and want to see some progress on the demolition.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Wonder if Aetas is going to be offering a "Headed Toward Demolition" room rates special promotion???

[AlQaholic]

I do not get it? The law is apparently there to prevent traffic congestion when the soi is too small to handle the traffic arising from the residents/hotel guests? So why not leave the top floors unused and allow the building to operate the number of floors that are allowed by the law?

To order demolition is just insane?

Oh yes, and I am sure the regular inspections by underpaid (wink wink) government functionaries would show that the upper floors remain unoccupied.

Think of the building's destruction as similar to publicly crushing that Ferrari at customs a ways back... had to be done to make the point. (Not that it worked...) As long as the building or the car are permitted to benefit someone, it is giving the nod to other such projects, and gives rise to corrupt practices. That's the idea, anyway.

on closer thought, I will have to agree with you. However I think there is much more to this story than what is on the surface.

[rickirs]

"if a road's width is less than 10 metres, a building on the road must not exceed 23 metres in height, or about eight storeys"

I was hoping to hear from any professional firefighters and someone with firefighting science. But obviously none of the TV remarks seem to have such expertise . So I'll proceed on my own quasi-scientific analysis, reviewing the firefighting problems with the World Trade Center, assisted by the movie "Towering Inferno."

The law is the law and not debateable. But laws should strive to make practical sense, especially when firefighter and occupant lives are at stake.

1) Ground-based firefighting resources need to be clear of any potential collapse zone from the structure on fire. Thus, for a 8-story building firefighting support (ie., hook & ladder, water pressure engines) might be parked horizontally a minimum of 7-stories of building height (1st story collapses on itself) from the structure or 20m. Looking at Google Street veiw it appears that the Aetas Hotel is set back a distance of about equal to the road width from the road. But "the soi is less than 10 metres wide throughout its distance." And there is no open space on the opposite side of the road for engines to park so they must park in the street! This will potentially place firefighting resources within a 7-floor collapse zone, especially with the "splash" effect of a falling building debris. Ruamrudee Soi has inadequate width for fighting an 8-story building.

2) Buildings above 7-stories are not fought with ground-based firefighting resources. Fires within the building beyond 7-floors are fought from within the building and from the top of the building. The building should be designed as a massive firefighting engine that provides access, ventilation, evacuation, fire suppression & retardant systems, and safe zones. Its structure should also enhance fire resistance, retard the spread of fire, and minimize toxic fumes. And can you imagine what the potential collapse zone would be for a 24-story building. There is no mention in the story about firefighting resources within the building. So the street width becomes irrelevant.

BMA's position is legally correct as a matter of law but nonsense from the perspective of saving property and lives.

[Chris Lawrence]

'The petitioners included Royal Household Bureau's Deputy Lord Chamberlain Khwankeo Vajaroda-ya, police spokesman Lt-General Prawut Thawornsiri, and Royal physician Songkhram Sabcharoen. The petition targeted the then Bangkok governor and the then Pathumwan district chief for allowing Tabtimtorn and Lapprathan companies to construct the highrise on Soi Ruamrudee.'

Loaded dice. Why would you not do due diligence and see that lived in the street? The coup has probably helped?

So they name the people in the petition, but don't name the Bangkok Governor or others on the other side? Is it because someone is scared of getting sued for naming someone that has caused tremendous financial loss?

[whybother]

Wonder if Aetas is going to be offering a "Headed Toward Demolition" room rates special promotion???

They should be able to offer good rates for rooms in the lower floors while the upper floors are being demolished.

/sarc

[MrJohnson]

Will never be demolished in our lifetime. Too much money at stake. SNAFU.

[Time Traveller]

according to the logic of this court ruling, the suvannabhum airport should also be demolished.

Edited December 3, 2014 by Time Traveller

[whybother]

according to the logic of this court ruling, the suvannabhum airport should also be demolished.

Why? Is the road to the airport less than 10 metres wide?

[crobe]

I will wait to see if they actually tear it down or magically have "delays" while everyone forgets about the news story.

That's my take on this one as well. Delay, waffle, delay, appeal, more paperwork. IMHO it will still be there next year.

Nice place by the look of it too.

http://residence.aetashotels.com/

As someone who stays regularly in the Aetas hotel and the Aetas residence I can say that this is honestly one of the best hotels to stay in around bankok without going to the ridiculous prices of the 5-star establishments - it is very good value for the price.

While I applaud the adherence to the law in all cases I find the complaints in this case to be a bit hypocritical - as they come from a cetain group of people with a NIMBY attitude from when it was built

If we look at the law that says this residence should not be there because of the small width of the soi not allowing buildings over 8 storeys then that is OK, but the Aetas is not the cause of most of the traffic problems on the Soi.

There are entrances off the Soi Ruamrudee to the All Seasons place (with 4 buildings including the Conrad hotel over the stipulated height including one of over 30 storeys) and the Plaza Athenee which has two buildings of over 30 storeys - and these cause a lot of the traffic problems

These developments are so large that they go all the way through to Wittayu Road and therefore have their "official" address on Wittayu road (even though the Athenee is a lot closer to Ruamrudee). All Seasons is used by taxis and other cars as a convenient cut-through from one to the other which is where the main traffic problems are.

If the law is to stop the traffic problems then at least the Ruamrudee entrances from these developments should also be closed off at the same time as they order the demolition of the Aetas - but probably will not happen because the vocal NIMBYs have not complained about these buildings

Enforce the law the same for all or not at all

Edited December 4, 2014 by crobe

[rakman]

just remodel the building to allow for the wider street, 7 meters tall and allow the building to overhang. Might become a tourist attraction.

[maidee]

they cannot buy the neighboorhing buildings and destroy them (if smaller that hotel ? )

[exalll]

I'll give any odds you want that the place will not be even partially demolished within 60 days.

T.I.T.

Indeed it is now more than 70 days later, and no demolition is occurring.

At this point, in most western countries, the company would be facing fines of many tens of thousands of dollars each week, with the weekly amount rising rapidly, until demolition actually starts. Wonder what is happening here in Thailand?

[ratcatcher]

I'll give any odds you want that the place will not be even partially demolished within 60 days.

T.I.T.

Indeed it is now more than 70 days later, and no demolition is occurring.

At this point, in most western countries, the company would be facing fines of many tens of thousands of dollars each week, with the weekly amount rising rapidly, until demolition actually starts. Wonder what is happening here in Thailand?

Wonder what is happening here in Thailand?

[bill1369]

I'll give any odds you want that the place will not be even partially demolished within 60 days.

T.I.T.

Correct you are. I live within 100m of the building and pass it almost daily. Not a single construction-type vehicle (or deconstruction) has ever been parked outside there. The fix is in me thinks.

[givenall]

about time we saw these people having to actually obey the laws. Just because they have money and influential friends it does not mean they can do as they please, this will be costing them a fortune, first to build it(including paying several big backhanders) and now by having to pay to demolish it, love to se these ar***oles get their come-upance, no chrissy bonus for them

They are on the wrong side of the politics . They will run this around and around hoping their side come to power again