The Nigeria Institute of
Architects (NIA), has told shop owners to take the comfort and safety of shoppers into consideration when putting up buildings to be used as shops.
The Public Relations Officer, NIA, Mr. Ebi Bozimo, who gave this advice in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt expressed worry that often times  when people put up shops or department stores, they use an already existing building which they convert to be used as shops without considerations for shoppers’ comfort or safety.
Bozimo observed that a lot of the time these buildings were not designed  taking into cognizance some architural design guidelines.
According to him, “making sure there is proper distribution of escape stairs incase of fire is essential when designing places for shopping”.
“All categories of shoppers should also be considered when designing access to the stores; elevators and ramps should be provided for those who are physically challenged”, he added.
He further  said, it is important that the “height of checkout counters should  be such that those who can stand and those in wheel chairs can be attended to”.
He noted that “our concern as architects  is  to ensure best  practice that is why we insisted that registered architects are essential  in any development activity. Most shopping premises hardly have parking spaces for instance. My emphasis is that by using an architect, all these considerations will  already be built into the design”.
He warned that non- compliance to building  regulations could  lead to  extreme negative impact, to even fatalities to the less obvious “when shops and businesses  can’t  grow because there aren’t enough  parking spaces, so people don’t want to go there anymore”.
He disclosed that the institute was actively engaging the federal and state governments to pass the National Building  Code, which prescribes the minimum   building standards that developers should attain.

Tonye Nria-Dappa