Alexandria Mayor Pushes For Building Safety Focus From State

ALEXANDRIA, VA — After a condo building collapsed in Surfside, Florida, there has been greater scrutiny about the current state and safety of high-rise buildings in other communities. The issue particularly hits home for Alexandria, which has plenty of older high-rise buildings.

Following the deadly collapse in Surfside, the City of Alexandria received questions from residents about building safety. That led to the city providing details on the local building safety code administration and regulation.

According to a city news release, Virginia's building code requires periodic inspections of certain systems, such as elevators, fire protection and fire alarm systems. However, there is no requirement for regular inspections of building structure. A building with a certificate of occupancy is inspected again if there is a change in occupancy or alterations that require inspection. The inspection process involves identifying and correcting unsafe buildings and structures. The building code includes provisions to address buildings determined to be structurally unstable or unsafe during inspections.

While the city provided information on building code requirements to residents, the mayor is pushing for more statewide action to ensure resident safety. Mayor Justin Wilson sent a letter to Gov. Ralph Northam calling for a review of building safety and potential improvements in Virginia.

Wilson noted that Alexandria has 57 high-rise buildings at least 40 years old, and 51 high-rises were built without sprinklers. A 2007 Virginia Housing Commission survey of localities determined Alexandria had the most older high-rise residential buildings in Virginia.

"The tragic collapse of the condo building in Florida is highly unusual," Wilson stated in the letter. "There are millions of commercial and residential high-rise buildings in the United States and catastrophic structural failures like the recent disaster are, thankfully, quite rare. However, this is an opportunity for us to consider and revisit the issue of building safety in our communities, and identify ways to review and potentially enhance building safety across the Commonwealth."

Residents who have concerns about building safety in Alexandria are urged to contact their homeowner or condominium association. The City of Alexandria’s Department of Code Administration is also able to review the location and request a licensed professional engineer to inspect as needed.