Monday, June 29, 2026

WHEN BUYING A NEW FLAT - ALWAYS VISIT THE LOCAL FIRE STATION - THANK ME LATER!

The next time you are thinking of buying a new flat for your family please visit your local fire station first. 

I know that sounds a little wild, but let me explain why. Buying a new flat is every urban indian's biggest dream. An idea sold to them as the symbol of their having arrived. A marker of success at the rat race we celebrate as willing participants in a capitalist world designed to exploit us to make a few rich people richer. I'm not participating, but if that is your sport, welcome to my article.


Buying a flat in the NCR involves and investment in the range of 2.5 to 15Crores. This is a lot of money. Money you possibly don’t have on hand unless you where involved in the recent horse trading that has been the talk of the town in Indian politics recently or you have generational wealth that left you with too much money to care. Money that yiu will send the next 20 years generating.


I would also recommend taking course a Paragliding, Hang-gliding or piloting a Flying- suit. 


But if you are not a trained Para Glider, Flying Suit Pilot or an experienced free climber it might be worth your while reading on.


The NCR is full of offerings of premium living. Your newspapers, social media and hoardings show you the most beautiful renders of imagined living with parks and smiling children and imported cars at the fancy drop offs. But a words of warning here, a flat at  3.5 to 15 crores in a high rise, like the 21st floor that went up in smoke just yesterday in Noida, might not be the best idea. 


When the next property agents is selling you the Pent-House or the Yamuna-View or the Golf Facing dream on the 21st floor it might a good idea to ask where the nearest fire station is. And then go over and ask them till what floor can they fight fires.


A few weeks ago the huge fires on another 21st floor in Noida had the press flooded with rather  comical pictures of of Noida Fire Service “Watering the Plants on the 6th floor”. That was the headline.


I could not help laughing. But it is also scary - I have very close friends in Noida, in sector 102, on the 21st floor of an apartment building. It gives me the creeps.


Poor electrical installations, untrained “technicians” , and cost saving by using inadequate wire grades etc could be a cause. But that is presides the point. 


WHY ARE 21 FLOOR BUILDINGS ALLOWED TO BE BUILT IF WE DO NOT HAVE FIRE ENGINES THAT CAN FIGHT FIRES AT THOSE HEIGHTS AND RESCUE PEOPLE.


How is planning based on scalable area, and speculation not on life and safety. And people just a number, a means to end. Dispensable to the developer’s greed.


The maximum allowable limit for building should be not be a function of a masterplan or a FSI. 


BUILDING HEIGHTS SHOULD BE DETERMINED BY THE MAXIMUM HEIGHT THE LOCAL FIRE STATION EQUIPMENT CAN FIGHT FIRES AT.  


That is it. There should be no other determinant.


SO THE NEXT TIME YOU PLAN TO BUY A FLAT, PLEASE MAKE A TRIP TO THE LOCALITY FIRE STATION, ASK HOW HIGH THEIR TRUCKS CAN REACH IN METERS. DIVIDE THAT BY 3 AND SET YOUR LIMIT FOR HOW FAR UP IN THE SKY YOU PLAN TO LIVE.


That is my sincerest advice while house shopping.


Of course you could ignore it, thats your choice.


You could be safe. Or you could be news!


STAY SAFE! THANK ME LATER!






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# posted by Henri Fanthome : 1:00 pm  0 comments

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Housing - and a certain sadness


If the present statistic is to be believed, as much as 24.1 million dwelling units are required by the year 2012, of these 88.1% are required for the what the governemtn has classified as LIG, EWS and BPL. A minimum of 30 million units are needed by 2020.

The national housing short-fall, only looks to be getting larger.

There was a time, in pre-liberalized India. In the era of the welfare state, when India was the leader, nay a torch bearer in the arena of social housing. It was time when the DDA  housing competitions were setting the bar, and architects of an almost now faded era were giving the throngs of India’s new urban populace  shelter, that even today are regarded as highly coveted. A time when the Press Enclave Housing Society and Tara Apartments in Delhi alone, were giving new direction to the idea of an group housing.

In the last 30 years, a lot seems to have changed.

The mushrooming of satellite towns, and suburbs, the Spawning of Gurgaon, and the new economy have turned the tables on the notion of housing.

Also the increasing presence of private players, and bye-laws that refuse to acknowledge the needs of less financially fortunate citizens seems to be driving the agenda of most urban housing enterprise.

The chosen model of almost all housing development is the tower block which is high return-low investment friendly but hugely energy intensive. Or in other cases the American sub-urban housing district, where everything requires a car. (Except of course for the very exclusive, but that will scarcely reflect on the overall trend.)

The transferred costs, to end users scarcely ever seem to be part of calculations that are made, either in terms of energy footprints, or in terms of long term implication of ownership. This even before we begin to discuss the nature of the living environments, where all available surface is parking lot, and residents are cooped into holes that go as high as the eye can see.

It is no secret that the masterplan (flawed as it is) and the FAR intense by-laws have a huge hand to play in manner of such development.

I write because as I witness the rise of the Gurgaon model, and its many clones in numerous cities across the subcontinent (Bhutan, Nepal, included) I am at the same time aware of the housing elsewhere, that is accessible, livable, economic, and pleasurable.

I see a huge opportunity wasted, a torch blown out, and millions with no choice but to submit to bad design, high living cost, and the sheer strain of urban living in India.

As an architect, it does bring a certain sense of sadness to see (those possible) arenas where we will live our non-work lives, bring up our children, and inhabit with those we care for and love are lost every day.

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# posted by Henri Fanthome : 6:40 pm  0 comments

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