Ikoyi Building Collapse: Real Estate Consultant Shares how Faulty Structure Can be Avoided
Editor's Note: Timi Ajayi, a real estate consultant says to successfully mitigate risks in the construction space one has to engage professionals for everything.
In this interview with Legit.ng on Sunday, November 14, Ajayi shared his views on how incidents such as the collapse of the 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos state can be avoided.
Source: UGC
The enrepreneur said as with other sectors, there are risk factors associated with them, adding that real estate isn’t totally exempted.
According to him, the difference essentially is that with real estate, they are able to mitigate the risks optimally.
He said:
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"As a real estate consultant and as a player in the construction space, one way we successfully mitigate risk is by engaging professionals for everything we do.
There is a whole lot that goes into ensuring that we have a successful project, right from sub-structure to super-structure. "
He went on to note that the sub-structure are the parts of the building that are below the ground while the super-structure are the parts of the building above the ground.
The super-structure is the beautiful edifice everyone sees and admires but a lot of professional work has gone so many meters into the ground to hold that structure in place.
To avert construction mishaps like the sad incidence of the Ikoyi building, professionals should be engaged at each and every stage of construction projects. From the preliminary stages to construction proper.
He said:
"To put that in context we would be talking about engaging experienced professionals right from; soil investigation/soil tests, to thoughtfully designing the building, to designing the foundation for the structure that we have designed, to the executions of the different stages of the project on site and the many other aspects of the project.
Now it is one thing to have professionals working with you on a project, it is another thing to listen to those professionals. Because really, what use is it if you engage professionals and you don’t listen to them or let them do their job.
Honestly, if we clearly establish ‘who handles what’ and all parties are accountable, we will have a ‘smooth sail’
Aside from the fact that the professionals by law have a ‘duty of care’ based on the services they render, the contracting companies are also in most cases vicariously liable for the outcomes of the services they render on a project.
If we do this things right, we are sure to have more successful projects not just to the point of delivering the project but buildings that will stand the test of time. That is how we can confidently say we have truly ‘build to last’."
Ikoyi collapse: Structure consultant complained about construction rrror 21 months ago, withdrew service
Legit.ng previously reported that a piece of new information on why the 21 storey building along Gerrard/Bourdillon road, Ikoyi collapsed has emerged.
In a leaked letter the managing director of Prowess Engineering Limited, Murtala Olawale, who was the formal structural consultant of the building, clearly informed the owner of the building Femi Osibona through his company, Fourscore Heights Limited of structural defect.
Olawale went on to say in the letter, headed 'Re-Proposed Gerrard Terraces for Fourscore Limited,' that his business will be withdrawing its services because the two companies no longer have the same vision regarding the construction.
Source: Legit.ng
