The latest sad sight in a long line of disasters, Copenhagen’s historic stock exchange was ravaged by fire earlier this month whilst restoration works were being carried out. Although it is too early to know the cause, there is a well-established link between fires in heritage buildings and construction work. Although it’s been asked many times before, we find ourselves yet again wondering how these catastrophes can be avoided.

Research carried out by Historic England in 2019 found that over 1,000 incidents in the historic built environment required fire and rescue services. A recent article by Richard Milne in the Financial Times noted that worldwide, one historic building is damaged by fire every day.

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