@Michael Hewett the 1.5m empty homes I mentioned are permanently empty. Holiday homes are another set of statistics - roughly 18,000 mostly empty holiday homes in Wales.
Apparently it was covered by the BBC1 6 pm news. The cause seems to have been bamboo scaffolding encased in a flammable plastic. Over 4,600 people lived in a very densely packed space. Truly horrifying.
Its on ITV news as well, bamboo scaffolding, I thought that went out with the ark. They also mentioned styrofoam, polystyrene, we all know about cladding.
No still widely used throughout the far east where suitable bamboos grow. Has been for millenia Cheaper and generally more environmentally friendly than the steel tube stuff, alright not in this case I admit.
I can understand them maybe using it for just a few floors but up a tower block, seems like 19th century meets 21st with a bad outcome.
I still can't believe that we're not learning any lessons about building ever higher... it is all well and good until something goes wrong.
Hong Kong building density is mental too. The fire spread between separate buildings really quickly. I wonder how they're going to manage to rehouse all the displaced people.
I've seen programmes on TV where the bamboo scaffolding is heralded as a traditional skill that is environmentally and structurally sound but, clearly, there are safety measures needed when disposing of waste and limiting the spread of fire. There have been arrests in the company carrying out the works on that site so maybe some corner cutting and corruption - not a surprise in the building industry anywhere really. It's all desperately sad for those affected by the loss of their homes and loved ones and I suspect that heads will literally roll - another excuse for Peking to squish Hong Kong.
I'm actually not against heads literally rolling if I am honest - at least that would have something of an impact to prevent recurrence, unlike the "lessons will be learned" platitudes we get here in the UK with zero accountability.
I've also seen it used across the Far East and they rarely have problems. I think that it must have been a combination of things. That seems more likely to be a threat. All the scaffolding I have seen has not been encased in plastic (I've had a close look at some of the sites). I took this in Hong Kong.
Down is more expensive and to keep going wider and longer is impractical in many places, exceptions being the US, Canada, Russia, China and Australia. Even in the US and the other two plutocracies/kleptocracies there would be a considerable outcry.
I don't know about Australia. Huge though it is, there is very little space that is actually inhabitable and that is all around the coasts. Similarly Canada. Australia, Canada and the US all seem to be having similar housing issues to us too. Not enough supply, very high rent prices.
But not in the UK - we've got space, we simply choose not to use it, or it isn't where we want it to be.
