Architect Tasks Developers On Soil Tests

As part of efforts to
check disasters in the housing sector, an architect, Leonard Uhiara, has urged people who are planning to build houses as well as developers to carry out soil test of the site of their projects by certified soil experts.
He said that this process if properly carried out will save the Nigerian building industry from the dangers of building collapse as being recorded in recent times.
Uhiara, who made this known to The Tide in Port Harcourt, said that if proper attention was given by stakeholders in the building sector to soil test, particularly for high-rise buildings, issues of building collapse will be adequately reduced.
He pointed out that the result of such soil test would enable the architects and structural engineers to specify what type of foundation to set up for such buildings.
According to him, most of the buildings that had collapsed could be traced to default in the foundation and tasked stakeholders to be serious on this.
The architect also called on governments at various levels to come up with policies that will compel developers, especially for the high rise buildings to undertake soil tests as a prerequisite for development.
“Governments at all levels should intensify public enlightenment, placing emphasis on how building disasters could be prevented rather than trying to manage the situation which might be costlier”, he said.