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A building expert, Dr Akinsola Olufemi, has said that 95 per cent of building projects in Lagos State do not comply with mandatory soil testing and are therefore exposed to the risk of collapse.
Olufemi stated this on Wednesday at the Builders Business Workshop tagged, “Effective Building Production Management Services: Integration of Construction Programme of Works and Building Construction Methodology in Building Project Delivery in Lagos State.”
The capacity building programme was organised by the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Building to train professional builders on construction methodology and industry best practices.
Olufemi, while facilitating the training exercise, disclosed that research conducted by the Yaba College of Technology revealed that the vast majority of building projects in the state ran afoul of the mandatory soil testing.
He said, “A lot of buildings are collapsing today because we don’t do things right in Nigeria. Ninety-five per cent of buildings in Lagos do not conduct soil tests. I am from the Building Department, Yaba College of Technology, and I am the director of Applied Research, Technology and Innovation.
“One research we did showed that most of the developers did not have consultants, let alone engage in soil investigation. It is only high-profile buildings that these are carried out on.
Olufemi further stressed the importance of construction methodology, noting that it had now become a compulsory requirement before the commencement of construction projects.
“Construction methodology is one key element that every contractor requires on site. However, if construction methodology is prepared by a contractor, he/she would submit to an awarding agency. It gives them the opportunity to see that they know what they want to do. If a medical doctor wants to conduct a surgery, he/she will first do the surgery plan. Top members of the organisation will study his plan, make adjustments or approve it before the doctor can go into the ward to conduct the surgery. The is the same as construction methodology.”
According to him, the methodology served as a working template, allowing the regulatory authorities to scrutinise a project on the basis of its merits and potential defects.
“When you come with your construction methodology, I will know how you want to approach it. If there is something that is faulty in your layout and plan, it will be pointed out from the construction methodology.
For example, look at the Fourscore project, if the owner had prepared this construction methodology and showed it to LABSCA, they would have found out that certain things he was doing would not fly. It is one of the documents being required by Lagos State Government now for every building project. Its part of the builder’s document.”
He emphasised the need to integrate the methodology into the current academic curriculum in order to help builders in training become acquainted with industry best practices.
“The curriculum that we are using is minimum-based. We call it a minimum-based benchmark. What we were taught in school is not what we are practising. We just upgraded the building curriculum last year, and all these documents are in it. In the past, they were not. It means they have to start teaching these courses from the school, which were not taught when we were in school.”
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