In Recent times, Nigeria have witnessed upscale in building collapse resulting in death of hundreds of citizens most prominent of which includes September 2014 The Synagogue Church of all nation guest house collapse and the Reigners Bible Church building collapse at Akwa Ibom State South South Nigeria with a combine death of over 300.
Structural Design Handled by quacks
Building designs are usually handled by qualified structural engineers who are normally trained and certified by relevant professional bodies like NISE and COREN. This is a fundamental aspect of every building and construction process.
Absence of these means a lot can go wrong from the very beginning and cause structural damages that can lead to lost of life and other un-intended consequences.
Absence of soil test
The importance of soil test in any building and construction activity cannot be over emphasized. Soil test enables the builders to determine soil strata, foundation type and where to lay the foundation for the building proper.
Places like Lagos has swampy grounds and many estates are built on recovered grounds a. These means that the foundation of such buildings needs to be strong and carried out after a proper soil test.
Absence of this have led to many avoidable building collapses that we have witnessed in this part of the world in recent times.
Lack of adherence to building specification by personnel.
Every building and construction projects normally have sets of design specifications that the professionals ought to adhere to. Some of these design specifications includes architectural design, M and E design, structural design and the survey plan.
Adhering to the specifications contained within these documents, will ensure that the building comes out exactly the way it should and is not subjected to abuse by future builders.
The use of sub-standard building materials
This is a very important factor which is all about actual implementation of all that’s contained within the building and construction design documents.
The lure of short cuts and greed to make quick gains, has lead to the upsurge in the use of sub-standard building materials by building contractors which has contributed to great extent in the recent upsurge of building collapses that we have witnessed in this part of the world.
The above can be checkmated through the implementation of proper quality control by project site supervisors.
Professional negligence
Professional negligence hinders work progress, causes improper documentation, non-compliance to all necessary requirement and ultimately compromises standards.
By professionals we mean the builders, the town planers, the estate surveyors, the architect, the engineers and the quantity surveyors who are trained and are directly involved in the entire construction process.
What if everything from the design and materials needed for the projects are all in place and then the workers find’s themselves making one mistake to the other? normally due to absent of trained /skilled professionals and proper synergy between all involved in carrying out the building process.
Synergy between building professionals, will bring to reality the ideas of the client. It will also ensure proper checks and balances require to carry out proper work and that workers in the lower end of the construction process, uses the right materials and in the right ways .
Bad construction practices
All that we have listed above so far, amounts to bad construction practices it now left for Building professionals to adhere to the standards of the industry and for the industry regulators to do their job, in ensuring that every building and construction projects in this part of world, follows all the rules within its book.
Doing this will not only ensure we all live in safety, but save the nation of needless and preventable lost of life’s that we witness on a daily basis in this part of the world.
