Past Failures - And What They Can Teach Us
These events weren't just costly. They were devastating. Lives lost, families changed, communities altered permanently. They deserve to be treated with care.
They also deserve to be studied - because every one of them left behind a clear signal. As leaders, that's on us to understand. This isn't about blame. It's about what we do with the lesson.
Surfside Condo Collapse 2021
Deferred Maintenance at a Terrible Cost
Champlain Towers South didn't collapse overnight. Water intrusion, slab deterioration, and corrosion had been progressing for years. Reports existed. The damage was documented.
The lesson isn't that no one cared. The lesson is that deferred maintenance compounds quietly and fails loudly and by the time it's visible, the window for low-cost intervention has already closed.
For leaders: Water intrusion is always urgent. Structural concerns escalate immediately. If you see it, document it and push it up the chain. Your job isn't to absorb the discomfort of a difficult conversation. It's to make sure the decision gets made by someone with the authority to make it.
Grenfell Tower Fire 2017
What You Can't See
The fire at Grenfell Tower spread with devastating speed. The exterior cladding installed during a renovation accelerated the fire in ways the original building was never designed to handle.
The tragedy reshaped how the global industry thinks about façade materials, retrofit decisions, and contractor oversight.
For leaders: You are responsible for what's on your building, not just what's inside it. Materials decisions made during renovations - especially those driven primarily by cost, can have consequences that don't show up until conditions are extreme. Understand what's installed. Ask the questions your vendors would prefer you didn't.
MGM Grand Fire 1980
Why Sprinklers Aren't Optional
A fire in a restaurant space spread rapidly through the casino and hotel. Over 80 lives were lost. The building lacked sprinklers in key areas and had inadequate smoke management.
This event became a cornerstone of American fire code reform - mandatory sprinklers, smoke control requirements, clearer egress standards, fire-resistant construction.
For leaders: The codes that govern your building today exist because people died in buildings that didn't have them. Sprinklers save lives. Smoke is often more lethal than flames. Egress isn't something you assume - it's something you verify, walk, and test. Honor the history by treating every fire drill as if it matters.
Texas Freeze 2021
Complex Systems Don't Forgive Assumptions
During the February freeze, buildings across Texas experienced burst pipes, HVAC failures, and prolonged outages. Mechanical systems that had never been tested against those conditions simply couldn't hold.
The buildings weren't poorly built. They were built for the conditions that had always existed - not the conditions that finally arrived.
For leaders: "This has never happened here" is not a preparedness plan. Redundancy isn't a luxury - it's the difference between a manageable incident and a catastrophic one. Seasonal planning, winterization protocols, and backup power strategies aren't optional in any climate anymore. Extreme weather is no longer rare. Plan accordingly.
The Takeaway
Every major failure in this industry - regardless of asset class, geography, or era - carries a similar pattern underneath it:
Something was known or identified. It wasn't acted on. Conditions changed. The system failed.
The leader's job is to interrupt that pattern before it completes.
That means inspecting the things people assume are fine. Documenting the things people think don't matter. Escalating problems even when the timing is inconvenient or the budget conversation is uncomfortable. Advocating for life safety decisions even when someone pushes back.
The leaders who study these events don't do it to be morbid. They do it because the best preparation you can give your building, your tenants, and your team is a clear-eyed understanding of how things go wrong.
Learn from what happened. Build forward with the discipline those lessons require. That's how we honor the people who were lost.
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