WHY BUILDINGS COLLAPSE
BBC2, 9.30pm
ONE year ago, Champlain Towers South, a 12-storey apartment building in Florida, collapsed in just 12 seconds. Fifty-five apartments were reduced to rubble and 98 people were killed.
It’s chilling to think something like this could happen. With still no official explanation for this disaster, this film examines what went wrong and if more buildings could be at risk.
There is eye-witness testimony, news archive, bodycam footage and CGI, putting together a moment-bymoment account of this particular catastrophe.
There are also stories of rescue and recovery with some astonishing against-all-odds tales of survival.
But the programme also turns its attention to the UK, pondering what lessons might be learnt.
In Scotland, more than half of all housing is in need of repairs to critical elements, and tenements are crumbling in cities like Glasgow.
How should we tackle the problem of our ageing buildings, and what technological solutions could be adopted to prevent a future tragedy?