PROPERTY TRANSACTION GUIDE

Experts point way forward for quality housing production
By Akinpelu Dada

Punch, Monday, 4th May 2009

Experts in housing production have proposed a number of measures they hope will ensure quality delivery and checkmate the incessant collapse of buildings in the country.

The experts, who gathered at the technical session of the weeklong 9th Lagos Housing Fair, which ended in Ikeja on Saturday, called for a re-examination of the building approval and production processes as well as materials’ usage among others, to guarantee quality housing delivery.

The fair was jointly organised by Beachland Resources Limited and Radio Lagos/Eko FM.

In a presentation on "Insurance Act and Building Performance Validation," the Third Vice-President, Nigerian Institute of Building, Mr. Olugbenga Adesanya, said that quality assurance in housing production would add value to investment, help building owners to have access to good construction companies and cut cost, thereby maximising productivity.

The General Manager, Lagos State Physical Planning and Development Authority, Mr. Taoreed Alli, said the major causes of building collapse included inadequate foundation; lack of supervision; use of substandard materials; failure to obtain building plan/non-compliance with approval granted; land dispute; developers’ greed; lack of proper reinforcement; failure to conduct soil test; use of quacks as builders and overloading of existing buildings with additional floors.

He said there was a need to go back to the basics and put in place a construction quality assurance programme in the construction process to curb building collapse.

He said there was the need to change the culture of professionals in the built environment to learn how to work systematically to overcome the "let’s just get it built" mentality.

He also recommended training for project managers to manage quality and get building owners to recognise the critical importance of quality in addition to safety.

The Head of Civil Engineering Department, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Mr. Sunday Yashim, in a paper on, "Importance of Standards in Materials Selection for Building Construction Works," noted that quality assurance in housing delivery would remain a mirage unless those responsible for housing production worked in accordance with set rules and guidelines.

He attributed haphazard housing production in the country to lack of quality consciousness, adding that this was traceable to high level of poverty and low level of education in the society.

He said that the desire to cut corners by developers in order to maximise profit was another monster that needed to be overcome in order to ensure quality in housing delivery.

According to Yashim, the production of good quality building/construction materials will not be possible without the availability and implementation of minimum basic quality requirements as specified in national and international standards, which form the basis of assessment and guide manufacturers in their quality control process.

He pointed to the different measures adopted by SON to rid the market of substandard products, including factory inspection, product certification, market survey and raid, the Mandatory Conformity Assessment Programme and Standards Organisation of Nigeria’s Conformity Assessment Programme.

The Executive Director, Shelter Watch Initiative, Mr. Segun Olutade, said that the high cost of cement and inadequate training of artisans were responsible for building collapse.

To curb the trend, he said the non-governmental organisation, with the support of NIOB, had entered into an agreement with some accredited institutions of higher learning offering courses in building technology to create a programme of study based on 20 per cent theory and 80 per cent practical that would attract Nigerian youths.

The initiative, Olutade said, was to enable them to learn modern skills so that they could compete with foreign artisans and also be able to take over from ageing and unskilled artisans.

Chairman, Lagos Housing Fair Committee and Managing Partner, Beachland Resources, Mr. Moses Ogunleye, expressed delight that the exhibition had grown to become a reference point in the nation’s housing/construction industry.