Professionals In The Built Environment And The Incidence Of Building Collapse In Nigeria

Abstract

the failure of buildings is a national problem, which not only results in waste of materials, financial and human resources but, sometimes in loss of lives and properties. This occurrence has been a challenge to the profes-sionals in the industry and as such necessitates the need for this study. The study examines the involvement of professionals in the incidence of buildings collapse in Lagos state. The research also identified and assessed the causes of building failure, evaluated the effects of such fail-ures on construction professionals, the client, and the nation as a whole. In achieving these objectives, the study adopts a survey technique with a total of 65 questionnaires mainly for the professionals in the industry in which 50 were retrieved and used for the analysis. Random sampling tech-nique was used in the selecting of the sample size. Data collected were analyzed using the frequency table, mean item score, one sample t test and paired sample t test. The study revealed that the building industry is full of quacks and inexperienced contractors. Their involvement in build-ing construction has led to a lot of collapse in the past and at present. Poor management and leadership on the part of the Site Engineers and Build-ers have also contributed to many buildings failures. The analysis reveals that there are significant differences in the causes of building failure. The failures of buildings also have significant effects on the stakeholders. o r g a n i z a t i o n , t e c h n o l o g y a n d m a n a g e m e n t i n c o n s t r u c t i o n · a n i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l · 4(2)2012 462