The Building and Constructions Authority (BCA) has confirmed
with Yahoo Singapore that the balcony walls of Swissotel The
Stamford are of legal height.
This comes as two deaths occurred at the hotel just days apart from
one another in the past week, with both the deceased believe to
have fallen from a height in the hotel.
The body of a 33-year-old man was found near the main entrance at
the ground floor of the hotel last Wednesday, while an Australian
woman in her 50s was found dead on the parapet five days
prior.
Standing at 226m, Swissotel The Stamford is one of the tallest
hotels in Southeast Asia. All of its 1,261 rooms and suites come
with a private balcony.
A BCA spokesperson confirmed that the hotel’s balcony walls measure
1.1m from the floor, which is 0.1m higher than the legally-mandated
height.
The ruling applies to all safety barriers on buildings such as
parapet walls and balcony railings. This requirement is similar to
that of many countries including the United States, Canada, the
United Kingdom and Australia.
Speaking to Channel NewsAsia Wednesday, Swissotel The Stamford’s
marketing communications director Vivian Tung said, “Every balcony
has a lock. Based on guest requests, we have unlocked and locked
balcony doors but the balconies remain an operational thing.”
The statement has since been redacted from the current version of
the Channel NewsAsia report. No explanation was given for the
redaction although Tung mentioned in the report that Swissotel
staff are assisting in police investigations.
The Swissotel chain also operates the Swissotel Merchant Court
hotel located at Clarke Quay. Unlike its sister branch, only a
portion of its 476 rooms have a private balcony. Guests here can
also request for the doors to the balcony to be locked upon
check-in.
Other large hotel chains in Singapore are aware of the recent
incidents, and have maintained that safety measures have always
been in place for rooms and suites with attached balconies.
Speaking to Yahoo Singapore, a representative from the Fullerton
Hotel stated that guests can request to have balcony doors
locked.
Although representatives from the Pan Pacific and Shangri-La hotel
chains in Singapore say they are aware of the issue, they did not
reply by press time to Yahoo Singapore’s requests for comment.
-- Yahoo! SG
