The assessment and repair of a fire‐damaged supermarket

This case study concerns a two‐storey supermarket building which was partially gutted by fire during the Handsworth riots in Birmingham in 1985. Burks Green and Partners were commissioned by the loss adjustors to investigate the structural significance of damage to the building and to advise on the viability of repair. Representatives of the insured considered that the best course of action was to demolish and rebuild. In the course of investigation, certain inherent defects in the structure also became apparent and it was necessary to encompass these within the repair scheme. In order to satisfy the owner's representatives about the effectiveness of proposed repairs, a trial area was first repaired and load‐tested.