Sunday, November 07, 2021   /07:40AM / by ANCA / Header Image Credit: Daily Post Nigeria

Association of Nigerian Chartered Architects (ANCA)has been following the developments in the Nigerian Physical Development spacesince the unfortunate collapse of a 21-storey development along Gerald Road,Ikoyi, Lagos, which was under construction. After wide consultation on thematter, we have chosen to give our professional views on these unfortunate andugly developments.

1. We sympathise with the families that have sufferedlosses in terms of lives, physical injuries and finance to this avoidableincidence. We share in their pains.

2. We align with the National outcry and concern aboutthe incident, while hoping and praying like others, that efforts would be madeto avert a repeat.

3. We commend the Governor of Lagos State for promptlysetting up a Probe Panel to douse the spontaneous tension with a 30-daydeadline.

4. However, we are of the view that, the magnitude andvery wide implications of the incident demand and warrant that, a three-leggedprobe should be envisaged:

i.                A Political Probe,which the Governor has promptly set up to douse tension and consider thegeneral implications towards making consequential policy decisions andstatements.

ii.              We understand thefollowing are the Terms of Reference: to identify the remote andimmediate cause of the building collapse; to ascertain whether there was acompromise of the building codes by the developer, his contractor and statutoryagencies; to identify culprits; and to make necessary recommendations to guardagainst reoccurrence. In our view, the 30-day deadline should be adequate forthat.

iii.            A Technical Probe,which should be carefully set up with all technical personnel in the building,construction and property industries. This panel should be given enough to addressa myriad of technical issues involved in such a complex development. Issues tobe investigated should include, among others,

a.The original brief for the project and its design. For example, in awidely circulated television interview, the majority shareholder of thedeveloper, Femi Osibona, said the development was a 7-star fully servicedresidential facility with all the qualities of a 7-star hotel. One of thefundamental requirements of a 7-star hotel is the wait-time at lift lobbies.For a 21-storey residential facility there should be at least 3 or four liftsin addition to a separate service lift. That is a huge structural aspect of thedesign that should have provided a structural core for the entire building.Unfortunately, the entire building came down like a pack of cards including the"lifts shaft";

b.What was the expected life span of the development? It was claimed in thetelevision interview that the units were for outright sale. What was the designlife time that was envisaged for owners? What is the guarantee that even thestanding towers will not collapse soon after the owners move in with live loadsand added dead load?

c.It is not enough that the structural engineer withdrew his services midway. Thefollowing questions should be asked: what structural design did he agree tosupervise from its inception? Did he ensure professionally, that the structuraldesign he was supervising was adequate for even 15 floors? In this regard, the "standing towers" should be subjected to structural analysis and simulatedshocks to ascertain their integrity.

d.Quality of materials used. Every material used must be subjected toadequate scientific and technical analysis. The facilities for ensuring thismust be sourced from wherever they are available, not by rule of thumbassessment. The scientific and technical analysis would establish whether thosematerials should have lasted the life of the development, considering Lagosenvironmental factors, even if the building did not collapse. In other words,this must be extended to the other "standing towers".

e.Management of the Project. How was the project managed from the designstage to the time of its collapse? How regular were technical site meetingsheld, if any? It is reported that, at the time of the collapse, 65% of theapartments had been sold and fully paid for. Were these part owners or,technically clients, aware of how the project they jointly own was beingconstructed, managed and documented through minutes of technical site meetings?We would like to emphasise that, questions relating to who did what on theproject and how it was carried out; the qualifications of the consultants,contractors and other contributors to the design and execution of the project;approvals and violations, should have been answered at the political probe andnot technical probe. These may only be referred to the next level of probe.

f.Several other technical queries compiled by a panel of experts, must beaddressed.

iv.            A Judicial Probe orCorona's Inquest, which should be given enough time toinvestigate the legal implications of the first two probes. It is oursubmission that this probe or inquest and the technical probe should not berushed. This probe should address the fundamental questions whether thedeveloper is dead or alive and make a judicial pronouncement. It is ourunderstanding that, the developer is Fourscore Homes Limited and before we arebeclouded by the sentiment of "you do not deride or castigate the dead" ajudicial pronouncement would be necessary. Every question that needs an answerfrom the developer regarding this calamity must be asked.

TheJudicial Probe may have to find out from other jurisdictions whether, it iscustomary for Planning Approval Agencies in the U.K. to "mistakenly" approve 3floors instead of 2, or 7 floors instead of 6 or it is just a case of a seriallaw breaker? Several other legal issues need to be articulated and judiciallyresolved, especially with the colossal loss of lives.

5. We would like to appeal to our friends of the legalprofession to allow the first two probes to do their work without unnecessaryinjunctions and delays and reserve their arsenal to the Judicial probe wherethey could have a field day. The first two should be fact finding whose resultsand findings would be very useful to the Judicial Probe and Corona's Inquest.

6. Finally, this statement articulates the position ofANCA on the topical issue of the collapsed 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos.If we are required to make an official presentation, either oral or written, atany probe connected with the subject matter, we shall very gladly availourselves. Hopefully, a time will come when probes of this nature and similarones, the report of which, dot government offices and judicial libraries, willresult in reducing this National cankerworm called building collapse.

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