The Nigerian Institute of Architects has called for tough sanctions against those found wanting in any cases of building collapse. The institute stated this at a press briefing ahead of its 28th edition of the Archibuilt.
Speaking at the briefing, Director, Archibuilt Development Services Limited, Umaru Karaye said poor building designs, unqualified contractors as well as use of substandard building materials are major causes of building collapse.
Karaye also said that as a measure to curb building collapse, the institute has decided to deny producers of substandard building materials access to exhibit their products during the 2017 Archibuilt exhibition.
He condemned situations where reports of investigations conducted on collapsed building are not made public.
Strict sanctions on building collapse culprits
Karaye said, you need to have a strict sanction when you find the culprit. It is very important but in most cases, when you hear of building collapses, after some days everybody forgets and nothing happens. We do not get to know the outcome of investigations or actions taken thereafter and then another incident happens.
“All these years we have been hearing, we hardly know the outcome of the investigations and the sanctions,” he added.
Also read:The Nigerian Institute of Architects
“There is need to find out the causes of collapse. These can be design, materials used, method of the construction, capacity of the contractor, supervisory roles of the professionals. It is only when you do that that you find out the appropriate answers. With these you can take the right action,” Karaye advised.
“Most of the buildings that have so far collapsed and the professionals involved probed, in most cases they are found to have been inactively involved in the supervision. This is mainly because the owner may want to reduce the cost of construction,” he said.
