Five years ago on June 24, the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside collapsed, killing 98 people. The tragedy forced the entire country to realize that a building could meet all of its required inspections and still be on the verge of disaster.
Since then, Florida has rolled out some of the strictest building safety rules in the nation. Under legislation like Senate Bill 4-D, condo boards are now forced to schedule regular milestone inspections. They also have to conduct structural integrity reserve studies to figure out exactly how much money they need to save for long-term structural repairs. The overall goal is to make engineers look past surface-level paint and give owners a clear picture of their building’s actual health.
It is a massive shift for the state, but a prominent local expert says lawmakers still left a major blind spot.
Greg Batista is a structural engineer based in Fort Lauderdale with over 35 years of experience. He has been a leading voice on building safety since the Surfside disaster. While he agrees Florida’s new laws are a step in the right direction, he warns that the current rules only address a piece of the puzzle.
“Florida has done the hard part by acting,” Batista said. “What remains is ensuring that the intent of those reforms is carried through in practice and that we take the next step toward continuous oversight, not just periodic snapshots.”
The issue comes down to how concrete actually breaks down. When the reinforcing steel inside a concrete column starts to rust, it doesn’t follow a calendar. Corrosion moves quietly and unevenly deep inside the walls. Because of Florida’s heavy humidity, salty coastal air, and regular chloride exposure, a building’s structural health can drop rapidly in the long gaps between its official checkups.
Technology exists to fix this gap. Modern structural monitoring equipment allows engineers to track building strain, vibrations, moisture, and active corrosion around the clock. Other nations, including Japan, Switzerland, and China, have already started weaving this kind of continuous monitoring into their oversight rules for high-risk buildings.
Right now, the United States does not require it.
“Corrosion is inevitable in coastal concrete buildings,” Batista said. “Structural decay is not. The difference is whether we are watching — and whether we act on what we learn.”
READ: Insured Or Not: Nearly Half Of U.S. Adults Couldn’t Afford Healthcare In 2025
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