Buncefield Oil Depot hit the headlines in December 2005 when a series of powerful explosions destroyed the majority of the petrochemical facility and caused significant damage to surrounding properties. It took the fire service two days to bring the resulting fire under control.
Clarke Bond was appointed in the immediate aftermath of the incident by Keystone Foods (USA), Prudential Property Investment Managers and Legal & General to provide specialist blast damage assessments and major incident management services, including full structural engineering, building surveying, fabric and site contamination and overall project management.
Based on site the team prepared detailed analysis and recommendations for repair strategies, looking at buildings at 250m to 2km from the incident. The reports showed that the low intensity and long duration of the explosion resulted in widespread, random damage to buildings and, although it incurred no fatalities, it affected both commercial and residential properties in an area that employs approximately 16,500 people.
Clarke Bond’s analysis recommended demolishing a number of existing buildings in and around the Buncefield site, but in addition highlighted the future risks and how to mitigate against them for areas where industrial, commercial and residential buildings are juxtapositioned.
The analysis carried out on the Buncefield incident informs Clarke Bond’s resilience and recovery expertise; where we advise and educate developers, architects, planners and end users on property and asset resilience investigation and repair and recovery.
No comments:
Post a Comment