bahrainthismonth.com | SEPTEMBER 2026 OPINION 64 2.30AM: IS YOUR BUILDING READY? Real Estate and Property Management are at the core of Bill Grieve’s experience, and in this article he offers his latest thoughts. In times of peace, prepare for war. Crisis management does not begin when disaster strikes. It begins months - sometimes years - beforehand, in the routine disciplines of maintenance, preparation, communication and enforcement. At approximately 2.30am on July 14, the residential building in which I live was subjected to an extraordinary external event. Windows and doors were blown in. Apartments filled with broken glass and debris. Residents emerged frightened and disorientated, some injured, others elderly or with limited mobility. Emergency services responded. But the incident revealed something else: how prepared - or unprepared - an ordinary residential building can be when the extraordinary happens. This is not about attributing blame for an extraordinary event. It is about examining the ordinary things buildings can control before, during and after one. PREPARE: The Crisis Starts Before the Crisis One emergency staircase had no functioning lighting. The other had scooters, toys, furniture, empty 20 Lt water bottles and personal belongings in areas intended to provide a route to safety. And yes, people were seen stumbling over the obstructions. These were not issues identified for the first time that night. Concerns about escape-route obstructions and lighting had been raised many times previously, including during a recorded building walkthrough. Yet when the emergency arrived, the deficiencies remained. By approximately 2pm that day, the obstructions had been removed, and work was underway on the deficient lighting. There is an important lesson in that contrast. If a safety deficiency can be addressed rapidly following an emergency, it deserves the same urgency before one. Procrastination may be the thief of time, but in building management, postponement can steal considerably more. A maintenance problem deferred today may become an operational problem tomorrow - and potentially a safety problem during an emergency. A crisis should accelerate necessary action. It should never be the event required to make necessary action happen. IMPACT: When Theory Meets Reality Emergency procedures look very different at 2.30am. Does the alarm work reliably? Are escape routes genuinely clear? Where are emergency keys? Is there an accurate key register? Who controls access? Which residents may require assistance? Who takes command? During our incident, access was required to apartments affected by smoke and fire concerns or damage. Locating keys proved difficult. Access arrangements presented further challenges, while an already problematic firealarm system was sounding during a genuine emergency. Repeated almost daily false and occupant activated alarms had created complacency. Residents need confidence that when an alarm sounds, it deserves their attention. Emergencies rarely create everyday management weaknesses. They reveal weaknesses that ordinary days allowed us to ignore. Managing residential buildings when crisis comes calling.
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