NIOB Lists Lessons for Nigeria in U.S. Condominium Collapse

Bennett Oghifo

The Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB) has said that the recent collapse of 40-year old 12-storey Champlain Towers South condominium complex near Miami, Florida, U.S.A should be a wakeup call for owners of similar structures in Nigeria, particularly those located in coastal areas.

Champlain Towers South condominium is located at 8777 Collins Avenue, Surfside, Florida. Just steps away from Champlain Towers South’s private pool deck are the sandy beach and the Atlantic Ocean. The housing units boast incredible oceanfront views or spectacular views of inter-coastal waterway with the city in the background. Year-round sea breezes help keep the temperatures moderate in the summer and pleasant in the winter months. It is located near some of the best shopping Miami has to offer, as well as the famous Miami nightlife. Unfortunately, it collapsed when the residents were asleep.

Nigeria is not immune to building collapse, but none has been as horrendous as Champlain Towers South condominium’s. Investigators are yet to unravel what caused it but the condos’ residents association fingers the builder’s neglect of early warning. This proved deadly, as the body count rises in the search for survivours.

“All things living and non-living wear out with age, your homes included. There comes a time when the building starts losing its structural strength and outer sheen,” said Makaan, a real estate resource.

“Ideally, the average lifespan of any concrete structure is 75-100 years. But, it is considered that the average life of an apartment is 50-60 years while of a house it is 40 years. Independent home ages much slower than an apartment building, where the amenities and common services are shared among the society residents. Their lifespan can be improved by carrying out regular maintenance.

Homes age because they are structures made of a combination of elements that degrade with time. “Put together, the environmental impact and the human usage both do their share of damage. Apart from this, poorly designed homes degrade faster anyway.

“Things which are under constant usages like water pipelines, power cables and other allied services gets degraded over time and worn out after a fixed period of time. Apart from this, window and door openings, poor construction quality, waterproofing, painting, layouts of plumbing also result in ageing of a home before time.

“However, independent home ages much slower than an apartment building where the amenities and common services are shared among the society residents.”

A recent colloquium at the Getty Center concluded that “the average life span of a conventionally built building (masonry and wood) is about 120 years. But for modernist buildings (reinforced concrete and glass curtain wall) it’s half that: 60 years.”

Miami-Dade County has orders an audit of old buildings to prevent this type of tragedy.
According to the National President of Nigerian Institute of Building, Bldr. Kunle Awobodu, there are lessons to be learned from the Florida collapse, considering the fact that there are buildings of such stature in Nigeria’s coastal areas. “Surfside, Florida is a coastal area and is subjected to the effect of strong wind, effect of water and artesian pressure- that’s what happens in the ground especially in the coastal areas.”

He said the lesson to be learned here is the need for subsidence, a deliberate survey of buildings to establish if they are sinking or not. “There is tendency that when a building is in sandy soil, part of it may be sinking and may not be noticeable to the naked eye. Then it should serve as warning. So, we need to be taking regular building survey, every five years.”

He also referred to a report of building survey that was conducted in 2018, where the residents drew attention to “concrete that was falling off and some cracks in the building and so on. So the building had given some tell-tale signs that were not immediately responded to due to the fact that it would cost them about $9.1 million to effect such repairs. The question now is why the residents were not evacuated?”

He said when a tragedy such as this happens in an organised society, “some people will be held responsible. Look at it now, law suits have commenced and the law is very effective. The lesson we should learn here is that negligence should not be excused based on sentiments.”
He said there is need for building condition survey in all buildings, stating that “buildings are actually meant to last for many years but there is nothing stopping you from assessing their condition occasionally to ensure everything is still intact.”

He also advised residents to speak up and follow through to ensure repair work is done. “So, the lesson learned is for tenants and residents to go beyond alerting the owner of the building about possible deterioration and to observe the repairs to be carried out and even write to the government agency in building control.”

On their part, the Nigeria Institute of Structural Engineers (NIStructE) has resolved to wait for the outcome of investigation being carried out by the U.S. authorities.

The President of the Institute, Engr. Dr. Kehinde Osifala, said “The building was built about 40 years ago on a reclaimed land. There would definitely be a lot of lessons to learn from the collapse, but let us wait for the results of the investigation before we know the actual cause(s). From there we can draw conclusions and lessons to learn from the collapse.”