Building Failures
There are three basic needs of man: food, shelter and clothing. A building is another name
for shelter and is therefore one of the basic needs of man. We construct buildings to provide
shelter for man, animals, machines, properties and work places. A building protects us, our
properties and our animals from harsh environmental conditions. The building also helps to
suspend us in space as in multi-storey buildings hence enabling a large number of people to
occupy a small area of land. Our media space has been inundated with the news of building
failures/collapse. These have come with numerous headlines like “Five Killed, 26 rescued in
Anambra building collapse [1] ”, “Abuja building collapse: 4 rescued as search rescue
operations end” [2] , “Tears as 22 pupils killed and 120 trapped in Plateau school building
collapse [3] ” and the list goes on.
What is Building failure?
A building has failed if it is unable to perform its intended function. The failure of a building
could be as a result of many factors. It is best traced by looking into the building team. Like
a football team the construction of a building requires the input of different professionals.
Each professional like each member of a football team supplies one or more of some of the
ingredients needed for the building structure to meet its intended needs. The absence or
failure of which leaves the project deficient. Just like in food and nutrition classes, the
deficiency points to what is lacking in the product. The addition of the ingredients/input
lacking heals or restores the product.
Let’s take a look at these professionals and their inputs
1) The Architect: The architect conceives the building project. He is the one with the
mental picture of the building before it is built. This he puts down on paper in the
form of a set of drawings. The drawings show the size, shape, look etc of the building
to the nearest millimeter. He is usually regarded as the head of the building team.
2) The Civil/Structural engineer studies the architectural drawings and produces the
structural drawing. The structural drawings are a set of instructions (ingredients)
needed to enable the building to stand firm meeting both the requirements for
stability and serviceability. He must be able to understand the architectural drawings.
He must understand the soil characteristics of the chosen site and the available
building materials in the market.
3) Electrical and Mechanical engineers: The Electrical and Mechanical engineers study
the architectural drawings and produce the electrical and mechanical drawings
respectively. Modern buildings come with electrical and mechanical components like
lights, sockets, heater, plumbing systems, lifts etc. Their drawings provide
information on the electrical and mechanical components of the building structure to
enable them work as envisaged by the architect.
4) Quantity surveyor: The quantity surveyor collects the drawings (ingredients) provided
by the Architect, Civil/Structural engineers, Electrical and Mechanical engineers and
works out an estimate of the resources needed to execute the project. He facilitates an
estimate of the project cost.
5) Land surveyor: The land surveyor helps us in positioning the building project
accurately on land as provided for in the site plan. Hence in large building projects
they are often hired to enable the contractor locate the exact place/point to erect the
building. They are excellent at transferring geometry from paper to land. They can
also be hired to position building components like columns as specified by the
Civil/Structural engineers.
6) Town planner: The Town planner plans our city to make it more habitable. He
prepares the plan/layout of our cities to enable easy movement of people and
guarantee their access to essential facilities.
7) The Builder: The builder is the professional trained in school to become a contractor
(the Cook). He is the one that collects the instructions (ingredients) from the other
professionals and sets out to execute (cook) the building project (food).
Failure types
A building fails when one or more of the inputs of any of the building team are deficient.
It will be convenient to define the failures along the lines of the deficient building
professional.
1) Architect-deficient: This is the failure type that is ripe when the input of a
professional Architect is either lacking or deficient. If the final project is smaller than
expected or the rooms, storey height, flow etc are at variance with what is expected
for us to put the house into good or expected use, we first look in the direction of the
Architect. He is supposed to be the person that supplied those ingredients. If the
ingredients (drawings) he supplied are good and as expected, we turn to the cook (the
contractor) for reasons for not adhering to the specifications (recipe) provided by the
Architect.
2) Civil/Structural engineer-deficient: This is the failure type we see when the input of
a Civil/Structural engineer is deficient or lacking. Recall that the Civil/Structural
engineer is the professional trained in school to estimate loads, analyse forces and
recommend the number, position, sizes and nature of the structural elements of a
building project with the aim of enabling the building stand. He is the one that
provides the ingredients that ensures that the concept of the Architect can stand and
withstand effectively its self weight, imposed loads and other environmental forces
expected. When offensive shear cracks are spotted, when the deflection of structural
members is excessive, when high and noticeable subsidence of the building is
observed or when the building collapses he is the expert to look for. He is supposed
to be the person that supplied those ingredients. If the ingredients (structural
drawings) he supplied are good and as expected, we turn to the cook (the contractor)
to give us reasons for not adhering to the specifications (recipe) provided by the
Civil/Structural engineers.
3) The Electrical and Mechanical engineer-deficient: If the final product has electrical
fittings that are poorly located, electrical components that are not working properly or
mechanical and plumping systems that refused to work properly, we first look in the
direction of the electrical and mechanical engineers. They are supposed to supply
those ingredients. If the ingredients (drawings) they supplied are good and as
expected, we turn to the cook (the contractor) for reasons for not adhering to the
specifications (recipe) provided by the electrical and mechanical engineers.
4) Quantity surveyor-deficient: If after allocation of the resources/quantities
(ingredients) he specified the project is uncompleted, we first look in his direction to
ascertain if what he estimated is correct. If they are correct we turn to the cook (the
contractor) for an explanation.
5) The land surveyor-deficient: If after execution we notice that the position or
orientation of the building is not as expected we first look at the site plan, if the
specifications of the site plan is good we then turn in the direction of the land
surveyor for reasons for not adhering to specifications in the site plan.
6) The Town planner-deficient: If we see buildings that a jam packed, that have
inadequate setbacks or sited in awkward places (like a factory at the centre a high
density residential area) we first look in the direction of the Town planner. We check
if the site plan got the approval of the Town planner in the regulatory agency. If the
plan is good and is approved we turn to the contractor to give us reasons why he
refused to adhere to the instructions in the site plan.
7) The Builder-deficient: If the structure is not deficient in any way in the specifications
from the other building professionals after a vetting process is done, The Builder is
first held responsible for any failure observed in the building.
Our building construction industry is still like a student who is not bothered about what he
scores in an exam. He is happy to score anything from 2% to 100%. He is only bothered
when he scores 0%. Sure 0% is a failure. But failure actually starts from 39% and below.
A building that is wrongly sited is a failure. A building that offers poor
circulation/movement within the building is a failure. A building that is poorly ventilated or
poorly lit is a failure. A building that could not be completed after the release of the
estimated cost is a failure. A building that has no functional safety features is a failure. In
each of these cases the building scores below 39%. But we usually react only when the
building collapses that is when it scored 0%. Well that too is a failure.
BUILDING COLLAPSE
We can see that a building collapses when the inputs of a Civil/Structural engineer is lacking.
A building collapses if the recommendations of the Civil/Structural engineer are not there or
are poorly adhered to. Building collapse is the worst form of building failure. It is the failure
which once it occurs cannot be remedied. When a building collapses, the building dies and
another must be built to replace the collapsed one. This is the reason why building collapse
generates the most public attention. This consequently places a high value on the civil
engineer hence the reason why almost everybody wants to be called an engineer in the
construction site.
Causes of Building collapse
To understanding the causes of building collapse we need to throw more light on the inputs
of a Civil/Structural engineer, the materials he/she uses and the implementation of his/her
recommendations.
a) Structural Design Error: A building can collapse as a result of a faulty Structural
design. The Civil/Structural engineer designs the building against collapse. This
he/she does by the provision of a set of instructions. These instructions are
presented in the form of some drawings known as the structural drawings. When
these instructions are not correct we have a design error.
Causes of Design Error
i) Use of Quacks: It is common knowledge that many people that parade
themselves as engineers are not engineers. They have not passed through
the walls of a university to study engineering. They are also not licensed by
COREN to practice and be called engineers. These quacks occasionally
produce structural drawings for non-suspecting and ignorant clients.
Because of their deficit in civil engineering knowledge their design often
are fraught with design errors.
ii) Incompetent engineers: Not all engineers are competent. The learning curve
of most Civil/Structural engineers does not end in the university. It
continues during professional practice and often throughout their working
career. A Structural design error can occur when such an engineer is asked
to produce a structural design. You simply cannot give what you do not
have.
iii) An Engineer’s mistake: Though very rare but a sound engineer can make
mistakes in his design. This can be as a result of human error, fatigue etc.
The error can be transferred to the structural drawings.
iv) A Draughtsman’s error: The engineering design is communicated in the
form of a set of drawings. These drawings are usually produced by the
engineering draughtsman from the design calculations of the engineer. If
the draughtsman makes a human error it will translate to a design error as
the structural drawings which are his final drawings will have an error.
b) Material Error: The Civil/Structural engineer in the preparation of his design
calculations makes use of some parameters. These parameter are the properties of
the materials to be used in the construction of the proposed building. He
recommends a reinforcement steel (iron rod) of a particular property. He
recommends concrete of a particular property. He assumes the building is to rest
on a soil strata of a particular property (this information he obtains from a soil
investigation carried out by a Civil/Geotechnical Engineer). The structural design
he/she produces is based on these parameters. It is therefore necessary to ensure
that only materials of the recommended properties are used.
Any material with a property unfavourable to what was assumed by the designer is
sub-standard and can lead to a building collapse. The common materials are
cement, fine aggregates, coarse aggregate, reinforcement rods and water.
c) Implementation Error: Here comes the error from the contractor (the cook). He
is supposed to be able to understand the recommendations of the civil/structural
engineer as presented in the structural drawings. If he fails to understand the
drawings and the recommended materials or deliberately flouts the instructions
there will be an implementation error. This implementation error is one of the
commonest causes of building collapse.
d) Poor Building Regulation: These are the processes for regulating and monitoring
the pre-construction, construction and post-construction activities of buildings.
Human activities are often motivated by personal gains hence the need to regulate
them to ensure that the correct things are done. These are supposed to be done by
our Building regulatory agencies.
Our regulatory agencies are supposed to vet all the drawings to be used for the
execution of a building, ensure that competent hands are involved in the execution
of building projects and also monitor the execution to ensure that only materials of
the desired qualities as recommended in the structural drawings are used. The
work is huge. Our regulatory agencies are often made up of personnel who lacks
both in the required expertise and numerical number for such an enormous task.
Many building go on in our premised unnoticed by these agencies hence the
incessant building collapse.
Solutions/Recommendations
1) Synergy with the building industry professional associations: Synergy with the
professional associations will release to the regulatory agencies a pool of ready and
viable hands for effective building regulation. The agency will tap from their
expertise and numerical strength. They (the professionals) being one of the ultimate
beneficiaries of a well regulated industry will be willing to assist the regulatory
agencies.
This can be done through the strengthening of the Building Control departments in the
Building regulation Agencies. These departments should have an Engineering Unit,
Architectural Unit and Town planning Unit. These Units should be manned by
professionals from the respective professional organizations both on full time and
part-time basis. Each approval must pass through and be cleared by these Units for
thorough vetting and adequate documentation. Each building must have the seals of
approval of these Units on their approved drawings.
The Professional organizations are blessed with numbers and expertise and can do this
as their contribution to curbing building failures.
This will save the government a lot of resources as they may never be able to employ
enough trained hands to do this work. The regulation from these bodies will be more
effective as they know their members and are also equipped by law to deal with them
when they err. This will deal a final blow on quackery in the Industry and also ensure
that adequate, good and accessible records on every building are kept. It will provide
no hiding place for quacks or any fraudulent professional. The government finally
will be able to put its blames on these organizations when there is failure.
2) De-zoning of Regulatory Agencies. Building approvals and monitoring should be
made more efficient and effective by de-zoning the regulatory agencies. There should
be a branch of every Regulatory agency in every local government area in the state
and each branch should be a microcosm of the main branch. This means that these
branches will have their respective building control departement and should be able to
approve and monitor buildings. This will bring building control and regulation closer
to the location of the construction site and make them more effective. Most logistics
and bottlenecks that breed corruption and compromise are removed. It will then be
very easy to pin down failures to erring officers and offices.
3) The relevant professional should be the contractor (cook): As painful as this may
sound the cook (the person that interprets the instructions of the other professionals
with the aim of producing the finished product) should be a professional that is able to
interpret the instructions from the Architect and Civil/Structural engineer. A
threatening danger faced by the construction industry is the lack of regulation on who
should be the contractor. In our construction industry, the contractor can be anybody.
He needs not know how to interpret the information supplied by the other
professionals. He needs not know the consequences of flouting their instructions. He
only needs gut and the ability to imitate what a professional elsewhere did to be a
contractor. This leaves our regulatory agencies stretched to their limits.
Building collapse will remain until we begin to regulate who and who executes
building projects and if possible criminalize the execution of building projects by non-
building professionals. Building professionals are people who by training are
equipped to interpret the instructions from the other professionals. The architect has a
smattering knowledge of structures, quantities etc to be able to work effectively in a
building team. The civil engineer is taught the very rudiments of architecture to
enable him interpret the drawing and hence recommend the appropriate structural
elements. This also applies to the Builder. Building construction must be executed by
the person who can interpret appropriately the instructions from other professionals.
This applies to other building professionals.
We may have noticed my silence on the presence of sub-standard materials in our
market. This is deliberate. Sub-standard materials strive in our market because of the
predominance of bad contractors. In our food market, bad or poorly prepared
ingredients that do not give a tasty dish do not last in our market. Why? Because
Nigerian women are good cooks, they spot the bad ingredients, notice its damaging
effect on their food and simply refuse to patronize them. The consequence is that the
bad ingredient soon disappears. Just imagine if we wake up one day and discover that
all the good nigerian cooks have disappeared. What do you think will happen to bad
ingredients in the market? They will strive. The bad cooks (remaining) will use them
to produce food that are of poorer quality and will not even know why their food is
not tasty. This is the reason why combating substandard reinforcement bars, use of
very weak concrete and aggregates for structural elements etc are still a challenge in
our environment.
4) Imposition of penalties for defaulters. This cannot be overemphasized. The imposition
of penalties for defaulters will also serve as a deterrent. The Regulatory Agencies
must also be liabe for the collapse of any building they approved. It is their
responsibility to ensure that competent, reachable and verifiable professionals are
attached to each building project. They can introduce more instruments and forms to
ensure this.
Engr. Odinaka Victor Okonkwo (Ph.D)
Department of Civil Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.
Past Chairman, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) Awka Branch.
vo.okonkwo@unizik.edu.ng
References
[1] https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/672382-five-killed-26-rescued-
in-anambra-building-collapse.html?tztc=1
[2] https://www.9jabrief.com/view_feed?feed_key=24739
[3] https://punchng.com/tears-as-22-pupils-killed-120-trapped-in-plateau-school-
building-collapse/
