When necessities have been met, the room opens to go beyond and reach out for mere aesthetics and art …
Some forum discussions on this …
A. Notwithstanding Gerrard… (building collapse)
AA We must revisit safety and quality standards in our real estate and construction sectors. May be an annual certification of both completed and uncompleted properties. The sad loss of lives in particular is quite distressing and is something we should not accept as a people.
BB Architecture and Engineering when properly harmonised are still master pieces of building arts that beautify our skylines…
CC. Its a complete overhaul of the system. I am not sure the building authorities know that their responsibilities go beyond approval stage of construction. Responsibilities include periodic post construction checks on buildings while in use. I have never seen Building Integrity Reports on any of the office complexes on Marina or Victoria for example
DD. Wonderful compilation. Non of the collapsed buildings in Nigeria is near the complications of these structures yet they remain standing because they did not allow corruption to be cloud their integrity
EE. Beyond corruption , we are unknowing and unbelieving of any meaningful scientific process or explanation beyond the ordinary or the obvious.
This is why we can choose to be corrupt rather than follow civil engineering codes when lives are at stake.
FF. I agree with you, most houses on the LEKKI corridor won’t pass the integrity test if you ask me.
GG. Sir, we must start by ensuring the quality of materials available in the market meet the required standards.
SON must sit up and also be made to face some consequences. In my little experience in construction, I found out that many of the iron rods in the market are not as thick and tensile as they are made out to be .
Also the sizes assigned to them are deceptive. In Nigeria, you will find an iron rod tagged 16mm while in reality, it is only 13mm.
Also, the recipes for concrete, block making etc for different classes of structures must be codified, well articulated and published.
Even with all these in place, the weakest link is the ENFORCEMENT. In a country where there has been no consequences for dereliction of duties by supervisory agencies, impunity has become the order of the day.
When public servants and private contractors are jailed for compromise that could lead to bodily harm, then will I know that we are ready as a people. The absence of CONSEQUENCES is the biggest enabler of evil in our society.