Building collapse and antecedents (I)

Earthquakes or tremors, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, cyclones and the like are all natural disasters which man can do nothing to prevent their occurrence. However, urban floods are both natural and man-made disasters, which cannot be stopped but can be triggered and mitigated. But building collapse with the attendant consequences, are wholly man-made adversities that are completely preventable. The responsibility for the prevention lies with all the stakeholders in the building industry. These include the government, private organisations, regulatory institutions and professional organisations, including the concerned public.

What is always responsible is the violation of development guidelines and regulations, quackery, and compromise by the public officials charged with the responsibility for regulating the activities, for worthless pecuniary gains.

From the developers, they are prompted by the naked desire to maximize returns on investment. We must accept that building multi-storey buildings is a very expensive venture. Those who don’t have enough resources must not try to get engaged with lean resources by cutting corners. Otherwise, the expected gains would turn to be heavily outweighed by the loss of entire investments, at times including the lives of innocent citizens along with the investor, as witnessed in one of the most devastating building collapse incidents in Lagos in the recent past.

In February 2019, a 4-floor structure previously used as Harmonia hotel, wholly collapsed in a single swoop, from the top to the bottom, and in the night. That happened at Gimbiya Street, a neighbourhood centre in Garki II District. Fortunately, prior to the collapse, the hotel had stopped operation, and all the staff maintaining the structure had been evacuated, including the security, such that when the disaster occurred no single life was lost and no injury was incurred by anybody. That was because a proactive measure was taken to ensure the safety of lives, although the property was not saved.

The narrative was that the original developer had originally applied for the development of the plot as an office complex sometime in 1998, but later sold it to another party around 2000 who built the Harmonia Hotel. By 2019 it further changed hands to an unsuspecting interest. What must have attracted the new owner were the location, the use and the size of the structure. But the actual strength of the structure which would not be known, could only be assumed to be satisfactory if an integrity test was not conducted at the time of the transaction.

After the take-over, the new owner was desirous of re-modelling the structure to his taste and applied for permission. Among the requirements for approval was Schmidt Hammer Test, to confirm the strength of the structure. The result of the test proved that the structure was very defective and highly susceptible to collapse. That was what informed him to immediately evacuate his staff from the site, which led to the salvation of lives.

Imagine if the structure was still used as a hotel, or the new owner never contemplated any remodelling to warrant conducting the integrity test as a prerequisite for the approval, the story would have been very tragic.

The most important lesson learnt is that all prospective property buyers of storey buildings, be it commercial or residential, must include conducting an integrity test as a guide to ascertain the strength of the structure before the conclusion of the transaction. Further revelation was that the original owner commenced the plot’s development as an office complex, but sold it in 2000, and subsequently, the design was changed to a hotel. It was not clear whether the hotel structure development was superimposed on the earlier office development which resulted in the structural defects. 

It could be observed that the life span of the building was very short because it lasted less than 20 years before its eventual collapse. If a whole structure could completely give way without any protest from any of the pillars, it shows that there were substantial defects in the course of construction, and this must be the major contributing factor. Obviously, the culprit was the hotel developer, unfortunately, the liability was innocently inherited by the new owner to face the ensuing sanctions.

There was a major building collapse at Jabi in 2018 which resulted in multiple fatal injuries. The FCT Administration set up a panel which recommended that all buildings abandoned for three years must not be occupied by anybody without certification for habitation. An integrity test should be conducted on all buildings above 15 years in the city. Public announcement was made for the implementation but seems to be flouted by many.

If lives were saved in this situation, in a subsequent building collapse at Kubwa the story was different.

To be continued.

Umar Shuaibu FNITP