Letters | Approval for structural wall removal and other critical flat renovations must not be done in isolation
- Readers discuss the unauthorised removal of a load-bearing wall in a Lohas Park flat, the benefits of law reform by an independent commission, and the suspected looting of WWII war graves
Suppose I live in a residential unit where, unbeknown to me, upstairs, downstairs, also to my right and left, some structural walls have been secretly removed because the property manager turned a blind eye to the chunks of concrete and bits of reinforcing bars being trucked down the lifts. I am the only one in the middle with intact walls, and I now dutifully apply to the Buildings Department for permission to remove a structural wall.
Not knowing what has happened in the surrounding flats, I assumed the entire building is sound, and I am the only one altering the structure. After all, logically, it is impossible to know otherwise.
The department could approve my application, but how meaningful is this approval in isolation, without the full context of which walls are actually missing in the building as a whole?