page_title: Ronan Point
section_title: Collapse
hierarchical_section_title: Ronan Point / Collapse
caption_attribution_description: English: Ronan Point collapse, Canning Town
context_page_description: Ronan Point was a 22-storey tower block in Canning Town in Newham, East London, which partly collapsed on 16 May 1968, only two months after it had opened. A gas explosion blew out some load-bearing walls, causing the collapse of one entire corner of the building, which killed four people and injured 17. The spectacular nature of the failure, led to a loss of public confidence in high-rise residential buildings, and major changes in UK building regulations resulted.
context_section_description: At approximately 5:45 am on 16 May 1968, resident Ivy Hodge went into her kitchen in flat 90, a corner flat on the 18th floor of the building, and lit a match to light the gas stove for a cup of tea. The match sparked a gas explosion that blew out the load-bearing flank walls, which had been supporting the four flats above. It is believed that the weaknesses were in the joints connecting the vertical walls to the floor slabs. The flank walls fell away, leaving the floors above unsupported and causing the progressive collapse of the south-east corner of the building.
  The building had just opened, and three of the four flats immediately above Hodge's were unoccupied. Four of the 260 residents were killed immediately and seventeen were injured, including a young mother who was stranded on a narrow ledge when the rest of her living room disappeared. Hodge survived, despite being blown across the room by the explosion — as did her gas stove, which she took to her new address.
caption: The explosion on the 18th floor brought down four flats above it, leading to a progressive collapse of one corner of the block.
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