Halting the increase of building collapses requires a multi-pronged approach with a sharper focus on materials quality, skills on site and increased professional oversight by the architects and engineers responsible for the design of our structures.
This is according to Charles Nduku, President of the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP) speaking during an exclusive interview with Concrete Connect recently. He explains that building collapses are increasing in frequency which exposes a deeper problem on building sites when qualified eyes are removed from construction. This worrying trend allows unintentional mistakes to creep in, corners to be cut and the use of the incorrect or inferior building materials to be used in critical structural phases.
SACAP is at the centre of the country’s architectural regulation as the statutory body mandated to protect the public by regulating architectural professionals. “Our primary mandate is to uphold standards and protect the public to ensure that the work of architectural professionals does not harm the public. This mandate is backed by law and no individual may practise as an architect without being registered with SACAP. We have enforcement powers that extend to investigation, sanction and in serious cases criminal action in collaboration with authorities.”
However, blame does not always fall at the feet of building professionals as clients often perpetuate it. Nduku points to a growing trend where professional involvement is cut back once approvals are secured. Architects and engineers are often appointed only up to design and submission stages with limited or no role during construction which is the phase where quality is either achieved or lost.
In one recent example linked to a major building collapse, the architect’s appointment ended before construction supervision began. The result was a site operating without the full oversight of the professionals who understood the design intent and technical requirements. “That supervision stage is critical, quality follows process, it does not happen by chance.”
He adds that where professional site visits are reduced or replaced with less qualified oversight compliance with standards begins to slip. Industry norms such as regular inspections, material verification and process control are either diluted or ignored altogether.
The cost of penny pinching
Developers under pressure to speed up timelines and reduce expenses are cutting back on professional services and relying more heavily on contractors to self-manage quality. The result, in many cases, is predictable and it is understandable that without consistent oversight the temptation to cut corners increases.
“Adherence to correct concrete practices are a good example of weak points. Proper curing times are frequently ignored and structures loaded before reaching design strength. Critical protection measures such as moisture retention during curing are overlooked and the correct acceptance of batched concrete is ignored. These are serious deviations that can have severe consequences in penalties as a result of failed concrete tests, removal of incorrectly placed concrete at the cost of the developer or in the worst-case scenario can lead to the collapse of a structure with injuries or loss of life.
Compounding the oversight problem is the increasing availability of substandard building materials. Unlike professional practitioners material suppliers operate in a far less regulated environment and according to Nduku this gap is allowing inferior products to enter the supply chain from low-grade cement and aggregates to incorrectly sized components and poorly manufactured concrete units. “We must remember that even a correctly engineered design could fail if the materials used do not meet exact specification and this reminds me of as recent case in the Eastern Cape where large-scale foundation piling failures were traced back to inferior cement forcing costly remediation after widespread structural defects emerged.”
Nduku continues that oversight extends to the competence of those executing the work and the duly appointed representatives of the engineering, architectural and contractor firms responsible for the project. They need to ensure their representatives have the practical knowledge at site level and a basic material understanding, such as distinguishing between suitable sand types, recognising contamination, or managing mix consistency and to conduct basic tests if necessary.
For its part SACAP is eager to work with regulators and industry bodies in all disciplines in order to identify training pathways at site-level. As construction methods become more reliant on Precast components, readymix supply and mechanisation firsthand material knowledge needs to be reinforced to prevent a disconnect between design intent and execution reality. “Construction is complex, it requires knowledge at every level without that mistakes are inevitable.”
The word of the law
South Africa does not lack regulators. It lacks alignment. Nduku says that multiple industry bodies operate in parallel, often without sufficient coordination. The result is fragmented oversight and duplicated mandates that can lead to a blame game in the event of a failure. SACAP is calling for stronger collaboration between regulators, professional bodies and technical institutions including those focused on concrete standards and materials science. “When a building collapses, the question is asked of all of us.”
“We need to educate everybody in the cycle including and especially the client and developer. Decisions made around cost and programme timelines etc directly influence site behaviour. The problem is that many clients lack the technical understanding to see how their decisions can risk the success of a project and poor decisions at the onset of a project can create a gap where poor practices can proceed unchecked until failure occurs.
“We are therefore advocating for broader public education, including clear indicators of what compliant construction should look like and where red flags lie. The intention is to create accountability beyond the professional layer,” says Nduku.
He concludes that South Africa’s construction environment is under strain from economic pressure, skills shortages and increasing project complexity but insists the fundamentals should always remain unchanged for design, materials and execution to align. Remove professional oversight from the equation and that alignment collapses.
ARCHITECTS SEEKING SOLUTIONS TO PREVENT BUILDING COLLAPSES
Halting the increase of building collapses requires a multi-pronged approach with a sharper focus on materials quality, skills on site and increased p
Halting the increase of building collapses requires a multi-pronged approach with a sharper focus on materials quality, skills on site and increased professional oversight by the architects and engineers responsible for the design of our structures.
This is according to Charles Nduku, President of the South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP) speaking during an exclusive interview with Concrete Connect recently. He explains that building collapses are increasing in frequency which exposes a deeper problem on building sites when qualified eyes are removed from construction. This worrying trend allows unintentional mistakes to creep in, corners to be cut and the use of the incorrect or inferior building materials to be used in critical structural phases.
SACAP is at the centre of the country’s architectural regulation as the statutory body mandated to protect the public by regulating architectural professionals. “Our primary mandate is to uphold standards and protect the public to ensure that the work of architectural professionals does not harm the public. This mandate is backed by law and no individual may practise as an architect without being registered with SACAP. We have enforcement powers that extend to investigation, sanction and in serious cases criminal action in collaboration with authorities.”
However, blame does not always fall at the feet of building professionals as clients often perpetuate it. Nduku points to a growing trend where professional involvement is cut back once approvals are secured. Architects and engineers are often appointed only up to design and submission stages with limited or no role during construction which is the phase where quality is either achieved or lost.
In one recent example linked to a major building collapse, the architect’s appointment ended before construction supervision began. The result was a site operating without the full oversight of the professionals who understood the design intent and technical requirements. “That supervision stage is critical, quality follows process, it does not happen by chance.”
He adds that where professional site visits are reduced or replaced with less qualified oversight compliance with standards begins to slip. Industry norms such as regular inspections, material verification and process control are either diluted or ignored altogether.
The cost of penny pinching
Developers under pressure to speed up timelines and reduce expenses are cutting back on professional services and relying more heavily on contractors to self-manage quality. The result, in many cases, is predictable and it is understandable that without consistent oversight the temptation to cut corners increases.
“Adherence to correct concrete practices are a good example of weak points. Proper curing times are frequently ignored and structures loaded before reaching design strength. Critical protection measures such as moisture retention during curing are overlooked and the correct acceptance of batched concrete is ignored. These are serious deviations that can have severe consequences in penalties as a result of failed concrete tests, removal of incorrectly placed concrete at the cost of the developer or in the worst-case scenario can lead to the collapse of a structure with injuries or loss of life.
Compounding the oversight problem is the increasing availability of substandard building materials. Unlike professional practitioners material suppliers operate in a far less regulated environment and according to Nduku this gap is allowing inferior products to enter the supply chain from low-grade cement and aggregates to incorrectly sized components and poorly manufactured concrete units. “We must remember that even a correctly engineered design could fail if the materials used do not meet exact specification and this reminds me of as recent case in the Eastern Cape where large-scale foundation piling failures were traced back to inferior cement forcing costly remediation after widespread structural defects emerged.”
Nduku continues that oversight extends to the competence of those executing the work and the duly appointed representatives of the engineering, architectural and contractor firms responsible for the project. They need to ensure their representatives have the practical knowledge at site level and a basic material understanding, such as distinguishing between suitable sand types, recognising contamination, or managing mix consistency and to conduct basic tests if necessary.
For its part SACAP is eager to work with regulators and industry bodies in all disciplines in order to identify training pathways at site-level. As construction methods become more reliant on Precast components, readymix supply and mechanisation firsthand material knowledge needs to be reinforced to prevent a disconnect between design intent and execution reality. “Construction is complex, it requires knowledge at every level without that mistakes are inevitable.”
The word of the law
South Africa does not lack regulators. It lacks alignment. Nduku says that multiple industry bodies operate in parallel, often without sufficient coordination. The result is fragmented oversight and duplicated mandates that can lead to a blame game in the event of a failure. SACAP is calling for stronger collaboration between regulators, professional bodies and technical institutions including those focused on concrete standards and materials science. “When a building collapses, the question is asked of all of us.”
“We need to educate everybody in the cycle including and especially the client and developer. Decisions made around cost and programme timelines etc directly influence site behaviour. The problem is that many clients lack the technical understanding to see how their decisions can risk the success of a project and poor decisions at the onset of a project can create a gap where poor practices can proceed unchecked until failure occurs.
“We are therefore advocating for broader public education, including clear indicators of what compliant construction should look like and where red flags lie. The intention is to create accountability beyond the professional layer,” says Nduku.
He concludes that South Africa’s construction environment is under strain from economic pressure, skills shortages and increasing project complexity but insists the fundamentals should always remain unchanged for design, materials and execution to align. Remove professional oversight from the equation and that alignment collapses.
AUTHOR: Raymond Campling
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