BMA ready to order Aetas hotel demolition

[webfact]

BMA ready to order Aetas hotel demolition
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Aetas hotel will be the largest building to face a demolition order from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration for breaking regulations, its BMA deputy permanent secretary Kritsada Kluntanont said yesterday.

"We have ordered the demolition of several structures before, but they were not this big," he said.

Located on Soi Ruamrudee, The Aetas Bangkok is a luxury hotel with 24 floors. However, this soi is not 10 metres wide throughout. By law, any building along such a small lane must not exceed 23 metres in height, or about eight floors.

The BMA looks set to issue the demolition order on The Aetas soon because the Supreme Administrative Court on Tuesday upheld an earlier ruling that the hotel must remove most of its floors.

"We are ready to comply with the court order," BMA permanent secretary Sanya Chenimit said yesterday.

Kritsada, however, reckoned there was a risk the hotel owner would file a compensation lawsuit against the BMA on grounds it had permits.

"When officials granted the permits, they used old information in a land database that showed the soi was at least 10 metres wide throughout. They failed to measure the width of the soi before granting the approval," he said.

He said if the BMA faced a compensation lawsuit, it would set up a panel to nail the officials responsible for the case.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/BMA-ready-to-order-Aetas-hotel-demolition-30249099.html

-- The Nation 2014-12-04

[IamNoone88]

Should be interesting to see outcome of this Mexican stand-off.

[doremifasol]

Yeah ........................... they screw up but it is your fault...........

So boring.......................

[Jack Mountain]

The Benz dealer is smiling already ...

[Greenhill]

Is that '10 meter wide' law countrywide or only in BKK?

[EyesWideOpen]

The Benz dealer is smiling already ...

The Benz dealer is always smiling. Thailand has one of the highest

percentages of Benz ownership in the world....

[BritTim]

Is that '10 meter wide' law countrywide or only in BKK?

Bangkok only. It has been a regulation for quite a while (about 20 years iirc) but has often been ignored.

[rkidlad]

Is that '10 meter wide' law countrywide or only in BKK?

Bangkok only. It has been a regulation for quite a while (about 20 years iirc) but has often been ignored.

Yea, when it's less than 10 metres it makes it harder for fire trucks to get through. When more than 10 metres it's a piece of piss.

[saakura]

Is that '10 meter wide' law countrywide or only in BKK?

Bangkok only. It has been a regulation for quite a while (about 20 years iirc) but has often been ignored.

In this case, the petitioners were no ordinary folks. Some very important dignitaries.

[tota]

Is Athenee Residence coming down too?

[tota]

Is 146 meter Athenee Residence (50% taller and across the street) coming down too?

[Commerce]

Bring 'em all down... all owned by the corrupt anyway!

[seajae]

all the BMA has to do is show that the owner was aware of this fact and that he paid certain officials money to overlook it. If they are prepared to drop the ones that received the payment deep in the do-do then they will have the developer by the short and curlies for using corrupt practices to knowingly get illegal permission to build when he was aware it was not allowed. I just want to see those that have rorted the system lose out big time and become much poorer for their corrupt actions, once the first falls others may well follow

[nowork114]

Is 146 meter Athenee Residence (50% taller and across the street) coming down too?

Athenee Residence has acces from Wireless Road - so they comply with the rules ....

[gchurch259]

_{Interesting they worry about a road less than 10 meters wide and do not care about vendors blocking the streets and sidewalks !! Strange how they look at things.}

_{Allow street vendors to set-up in front of businesses they are competing with, leave trash and grease on the sidewalks.}

[FangFerang]

I have to wonder -- of all the non-compliant buildings in BKK, many and more, why is this one property being targeted?

A junior codes compliance officer, working from a helicopter, would take three years just to list buildings in violation of BOCA codes.

I have to ask again -- why this one building? Please give up the 'it's a good start' drivel, because that is not even an argument that would hold water underwater. It's not a drive, just as the big corruption bust is not a trend, nor the temporary removal of beach vendors and street vendors the shining dawn of a new day.

Something went wanky on the politics side.

[saakura]

I have to wonder -- of all the non-compliant buildings in BKK, many and more, why is this one property being targeted?

A junior codes compliance officer, working from a helicopter, would take three years just to list buildings in violation of BOCA codes.

I have to ask again -- why this one building? Please give up the 'it's a good start' drivel, because that is not even an argument that would hold water underwater. It's not a drive, just as the big corruption bust is not a trend, nor the temporary removal of beach vendors and street vendors the shining dawn of a new day.

Something went wanky on the politics side.

Look at the list of petitioners who have taken this to court and therein lies the answer.

[rickirs]

BMA must and wil face a compensation lawsuit. You don't issue building permits, watch a 24-story building being constructed, issue an occupancy permit.,then one day decide the road wasn't wide enough for the height. That's BMA's mistake and BMA's cost.

The whole matter of insufficient road width is a sham standard anyways.

Buildings higher than 7 stories are not fought from ground-based firefighting resources but from within and top of the building. Obviously, the first 8 stories of the building are accessible to ground-based firefighting resources, albeit parked within the potential collapse zone of a 8-story building. Beyond 7 stories the building itself must become a self-contained ground-based firefighting resource. In terms of safety to building occupants and firefighters, what is crucial is internal communications, access to building areas, internal fire suppression resources, escape routes, ventilation, etc. None of these factors are mentioned by BMA as to their adequacy but they would be of primary concern by the building owners from a liability perspective if they want operate a hotel and residency. I would think these features would be expected in review for a building permit.

Fire and gravity don't care how wide the access road is. Nor does a 24-story building care if it collapses and wipes out everything at ground level within a 60 meter radiius. There is no practical reason to demolish 18 stories of the building because it fronts less than a 10m wide road. And to be picky about it, the less than 10m wide access road itself will fall within the potential collapse zone of an 8-story building (even when adding the approximate 10m building setback from the street) wherein fire engines must park within the street area to fight the fire.

Yes, the law is the law. But law must be applied in a reasonable and measured manner that assures the objectives of the law are met.

[maidee]

so in thailand, they will just remove the excess floors? without the building collapsing?

hope nobody is going to rent a room there where the works are busy

[NanLaew]

The Benz dealer is smiling already ...

The Benz dealer is always smiling. Thailand has one of the highest

percentages of Benz ownership in the world....

Citation needed.

I haven't seen any Merc taxis here though.

[mayas73]

this is rather annoying news, as the aetas was the first hotel i stayed in in bkk many years ago, i love that place, ite been like my second home there.how long until its closed for business?