‘Highly unlikely’ Priory Hall would happen in Britain

TOUGHER inspection laws in Britain make it “highly unlikely” that a situation could arise like Priory Hall in Dublin, where residents had to evacuate the development because of serious fire safety concerns, a building expert has claimed.

A leading British authority on building defect recognition, Prof Malcolm Hollis, said a key issue in Ireland appeared to be the lack of independent assessment of the design, together with detailed checking of the building work.

Asked if a situation like Priory Hall could emerge in Britain, he replied: “You can’t rule anything out in terms of defects in buildings but it would be highly unlikely and it is certainly not something you would expect to see repeated in more than one building.”