The ministry of roads and urban development has said it wants to stop the destruction of commercial and residential properties sooner than their envisaged lifespan, the head of the ministry’s research center, Mohammad Shekarchi told FNA on Saturday. The official pointed out that the useful life of buildings in Iran is roughly 20 to 30 years, and some buildings are ruined even sooner than their supposed deadline in a bid to meet the house builders’ demand for land, while in developed countries the lifespan of buildings is up to 100 years. “Unfortunately, inhabitable buildings are sometimes razed in favor of mass construction, which is a total waste of resources and the ministry seeks to counter it,” he said. “The blame cannot merely be put on the quality of the utilized construction materials or architecture of the structures, however, the low maintenance can affect a building’s longevity.”
