Following the collapse of a century-old concrete canopy in Bangkok's Old Town last week, the incoming Bangkok governor faces an undeniable mandate: the safety of the city's ageing buildings must immediately top the administration's agenda.
Without warning, the second-floor canopy -- a ubiquitous feature of Bangkok's traditional shophouses -- gave way and crashed onto Charoen Krung Road. The incident occurred in the bustling business and emerging tourist hub of Talat Noi, near Wat Traimit Witthayaram.
The tragedy is alarming not only because it claimed one life and injured another, but because of the systemic threat it exposed. Thousands of ageing buildings across Bangkok carry identical canopy structures whose integrity is now deeply questionable.
What makes the situation particularly perilous is that many are concentrated in Bangkok's historic quarters. Having been built in the same era using identical techniques and materials, these buildings are ageing in unison.
Without mandatory, regular structural audits, there is no way of knowing how many may be on the verge of collapse -- a danger sharpened by the fact that Old Town neighbourhoods like Talat Noi are being actively promoted as premier destinations for art, culture and artisan retail.
The onus falls heavily on the incoming Bangkok Metropolitan Council, the local body of elected lawmakers. As incumbent governor Chadchart Sittipunt noted after inspecting the site, the key to old-building safety lies in amending the city's "unrealistic" and "overly restrictive" building ordinances.
Under the existing Building Control Act, owners who wish to renovate old structures must comply with modern mandates -- strict setback lines, dedicated parking spaces -- that are practically impossible to meet in cramped, historic neighbourhoods. Faced with this, many owners simply do nothing, letting deteriorating structures rot in place.
A draft amendment to remedy the deadlock was proposed to the council last year, Mr Chadchart said. It is now the urgent responsibility of the incoming council to bring it up for discussion, and to ensure the revised ordinance is flexible enough to incentivise renovations and robust enough to protect public safety and Bangkok's irreplaceable architectural heritage.
The scale of the risk is staggering: by the governor's data, Bangkok is home to roughly 400,000 shophouses of similar structural style, nearly 100,000 of them already decades old.
While the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration -- particularly local district offices -- must become more proactive in auditing suspect properties, owners must step up too.
They cannot afford to wait for the law to be amended: they must inspect their premises, fortify weak spots and pre-emptively mitigate hazards now. Last week's tragedy was no anomaly -- a near-identical canopy collapse near the historic Samran Rat intersection shows the decay is systemic and recurring.
Some of Bangkok's vintage shophouses possess a real charm and deserve to be preserved -- as homes, businesses, or living monuments of the city's heritage. But preservation must never come at the expense of public safety. These structures can, and should, be given a new lease of life -- but only if the city guarantees they are safe to walk under.
