PROPERTY NEWS

OPERATIVES within and outside the building sector industry who gathered recently in Lagos to review current approaches to curbing structural failures, most of which result into collapse of buildings, loss of lives and properties, have concluded that the dream of stopping the menace will remain a farce unless all stakeholders - private and public institutions and individuals, such as developers and investors - effectively play their roles.

They met at the seminar, quarterly luncheon and extraordinary general meeting of the Association of Consulting Engineers, Nigeria (ACEN). At the event, staged in conjunction with the Council for the Regulation of Engineers in Nigeria (COREN), stakeholders examined the topic 'Multi-Disciplinary Strategies for Arresting Structural Failure of Buildings in Nigeria.'

Structural failure in buildings, in broad terms, comes in various forms and degrees of severity, the worst of which is a collapse. While deterioration or decay, especially of vigour or usefulness of a building can be categorised as failure of sorts, a total loss of bearing strength resulting in a sudden break down, physical depletion and/or falling apart is termed as collapse.

Regrettably, the operatives noted, the increased rate of building collapse witnessed in Nigeria in recent years has reached such a disturbing state that governments at federal and state levels have had to step up attention at adopting intervention measures to stem the spate.

Such efforts have included the exploratory efforts by Rivers and Lagos State Governments and the Federal House of Representatives. For instance, Lagos State, in November 1999, invited ACEN to work with its Ministry of the Environment and Physical Planning in identifying lasting solutions that could be applied to eliminate the incessant collapse of buildings in the state

The Lagos State Government again in May 2006 set up a committee of 10 construction industry experts, drawn essentially from the private sector, to carry out general and specific studies of high rise buildings in Lagos Island, develop strategies and make recommendations of technical and legislative framework which when implemented, will ensure a lasting solution to the same recurring problem in the state.

The House of Representatives, in its case, also called for a two-day public hearing on the matter in February 2006 and requested for Memoranda and Position Papers on possible solutions.

Despite the various efforts, the rate of building collapse to date has continued unabated, with two buildings collapsing in Lagos within the past three weeks.

Consequently, speakers at a recent event urged all stakeholders to go beyond the tradition of talking about causes of collapsed buildings and apportioning blame to each other within the construction industry, to come together to deliver a multi-disciplinary approach towards checking the monster, which is currently putting the industry to test.

In his lead paper, Mr. Dapo Abe, an engineer, who identified primary causes of structural failures resulting in buildings as covering three classifications including design and planning phase, construction phase, and life-cycle phase (misuse and maintenance deficiency), urged the Federal Government through the National Assembly to legislate and formulate statutory laws, which will expressly set the guidelines for the design and planning approval processes.

"The National Assembly should legislate that: only practicing structural engineers registered such by COREN, are engaged in the design of the structures of buildings. Only structural engineers, registered by COREN and certified as practicing engineers in consultancy services are authorised to recommend or submit designs (drawings, specifications, calculations, etc) for planning approval, and a comprehensive professional indemnity insurance cover must be submitted by the consultant structural engineer or firm along with the other submissions for planning approval application."

The lead discussant demanded the Assembly to "Enact and publish the guidelines for the preparation of structural engineering designs for approval purposes. These should include but not limited to acceptable design criteria, design codes, design drawings, specifications and calculations, guide to soil conditions and/or detailed subsoil investigation report, etc. This should be done for all the aspects of structural engineering design requiring approval by governments."

He added: "Although there are parts to play by various sectors involved with building construction in Nigeria, the key ingredient is the need for more effective government regulation of the industry. Engineers playing their roles, as we have being doing, can certainly not be enough to stem or arrest the tide of incessant collapse in the country. If only government can grant a similar level of empowerment as obtains in the banking and pharmaceutical industries to the building and construction industry, the country will so much be better for it and the wave of collapses will blow away, virtually forever."

While Abe tasked state governments to be more proactive in its planning and regulations laws, owners of buildings and developers were urged to employ services of recognised experts to for construction jobs.

President, Association of Consulting Architects, Nigeria (ACAN), Mr. Roti Delano, an architect, submitted that architects should advise the client on the need to carry out proper soil investigation particularly in areas known to have bad soil.

According to him, the Development Control unit of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development should enforce provisions within the building codes.

He further added: "The Development Control of Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development needs to carry out periodic inspection in accordance with its Form C and ensure that no concrete work in particular is covered up until it is approved by either the consultant structural engineer or the city engineer."

To tackle shortage of manpower, Delano suggested, "consultants can be engaged by the government to work with the district zonal planning offices to carry out building inspection."

Structural engineers were not left out. "Structural engineers need to insist that structural steel test and concrete cube tests must be carried out when the construction commences," Delano said.

Speaking on "Geospatial Information for Building Construction and Monitoring," Mr. O. Atilola, president of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors, recommended that there must be monitoring of high-rise building and general environmental monitoring of certain areas to determine the tectonic movement over time, which will serve as early warning.

According to him, this will require the establishment of benchmarks at appropriate locations within the vicinity of the structure. "Planning, specifically layout plans; architectural designs and sub-structural designs of buildings must be based on a topographical survey plan produced by a surveyor.

"Topographical survey plan, produce by a surveyor, showing all information - height information of site and adjoining site, hydrological information, storm water discharge point, vegetation type, infrastructural details within and around the site, soil and geotechnical information where available - that will assist various professionals in the construction industry to produce economic and appropriate construction design, must be made a prerequisite for building approval."

Atilola added: "As-built surveys should form a part of the requirement of building construction and no construction should be deemed completed without the as-built survey.

"Consultant surveyors should be engaged from project inception to post construction stages to ensure accurate and realistic planning, enhance economic construction design, assure prudent construction management and hence accountability, as accurate measurements will be available for calculating optimal construction quantities, ensure the availability of As-Built surveys for post construction facilities documentation and management."

On the contractor's responsibilities, the Chief Executive Officer of Formwork Limited, Lagos, Mr. Ibukun Sonola, said, "the construction industry actively encourages the development of money management skills as a necessary tool to aid their business. It should venture to isolate the development of cost estimating and negotiating skills as critical success factors. This would go some way in resolving underlying issues leading to incidences of building failure."