REAL ESTATE: Building codification will end collapse – ATOPCON boss

A collapsed building in Lagos

The Chairman, Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria, Lagos branch, Mr. Bisi Adedire, has said the spate of building collapse in the country can be checked if a system of building codification and registration is adopted by governments at all levels.

Adedire said this in a document he made available to our correspondent on Sunday against the backdrop of the high number of building collapse that had been recorded in the country in recent times.

He said the process would ensure that a code was assigned to every building and could be monitored for defects.

 The ATOPCON chairman said, “With this code, all the details of any development can be accessed from a central system being linked to the Internet and appropriate actions taken. A more united approach to operation within the building industry is a sure bet to counter this menace.

“Pulling together the wealth of knowledge and experience of each profession within the industry, in collaboration with government agencies, building collapse can become history.”

He added that people must also be sensitised and carried along with the new process to guarantee its success.

According to Adedire, building collapse is an avoidable occurrence, which adequate information and control within the built environment can salvage.

Among other recommendations, he said vulnerable buildings should be promptly identified and the developers should be compelled to carry out reinforcement or demolition as the case might warrant, while artisans and craftsmen in the building industry should be organised, trained and certified to operate.

He said, “The public should be discouraged from employing uncertified players in the building industry.  All construction works should be designed and supervised by the relevant professionals. This can be ensured by an additional requirement of the submission of the credentials of professionals involved in any building project from start to finish.

 “Every building construction should involve all the relevant professionals. No professional should perform functions they are not certified to perform. This should be backed up by law.”

 He said town planning agencies should be adequately staffed with professionals and a professional monitoring team assigned to every project area to carry out routine inspection in order to ascertain compliance during and after construction works.

The monitoring exercise should include all professionals in the built environment in collaboration with the Lagos State Building Control Agency to facilitate effective control. Most of the cases of building collapse in our society are sadly avoidable and attributable to negligence,” Adedire said.