Smoking chunks of façade fell in Whitechapel High Street and Commercial Street in east London on 7 March, 2022 after a fire broke out at a high-rise building designed by Sigma Seifert
Around 60 people were evacuated from the Relay Building, with 25 fire engines and 125 firefighters taking several hours to get the blaze under control. Other residents stayed put in their flats.
The London Ambulance Service said two people were taken to hospital, with a further two treated at the scene. One woman had been trapped on the 17th floor, where the fire broke out, until firefighters found and evacuated her using a fire escape hood – a mask that filters out toxic gases produced by fires.
The 22-story Relay Building at 1 Commercial Street was completed in 2014 by developer Redrow and architect Sigma Seifert. Plans from 2006 show the original design had been drawn up under the name John Seifert Architects. Documents from the planning portal in 2012 also suggest Broadway Malyan was involved with elements of the lower parts of the tower, around the Aldgate East tube station entrance which is incorporated into the Relay Building.
For more on this story, go to Architects’ Journal.