I am not an engineer, so the opinions shared below have been gathered over time from others. That is the work of a busybody like me. I am always looking over others’ business and making it my own. You should not be surprised if you find that I have shared your opinions here verbatim.

The rate at which buildings are collapsing (especially in Nairobi, Kiambu counties) is very worrying. A whole list of people is looking the other way and sleeping on their jobs. These include the developer/client wanting to take shortcuts, suppliers supplying substandard yet ‘certified’ materials, incompetent main contractors and clueless consultants. To crown, this list is the greedy institutions mandated to ensure that the built industry follows the correct building standards.

The collapsing buildings have led to the loss of life and property. Some collapse while under construction, and others while in use by tenants. Until when will enough be enough? Say no to shortcuts and corruption. Save money, save lives.

There have been many cases of buildings collapsing while under construction and others while already occupied by tenants.

What is the root cause of this collapse? Structural failure is one of the major causes. Then we are led to ask, what causes the structural failure?

The several reasons, but we shall start with the basics.

  1. Shoddy structural designs and calculations.

This happens when unqualified people are involved in structural design work. Kenya has many qualified and experienced engineers, many of who are unemployed.

If a building falls because of shoddy structural designs and calculations, we can conclude that unqualified people masqueraded as engineers and did the designs.

Geotechnical surveys should be made mandatory in all projects. This may not even happen if professionals who know such are not involved in projects.

  1. Lack of supervision of the construction work by qualified engineers.

Proper designs may be used for the construction. Licensed and qualified engineers may have been involved in the design work, but they are no longer involved in supervision work.

Clients may refuse to engage engineers to supervise the works to ‘save’ costs.

Engineers ensure that construction is done according to the designs and that quality materials are used for the work. If you don’t involve engineers, who will check the quality of work and building materials?

Some rogue engineers may also be involved in selling out their licenses for project registration purposes. Once the project is registered with the authorities, they cease to be part of the project team.

  1. Not engaging professional engineers in projects from design to supervision.

Some clients knowingly or unknowingly do not engage engineers from the design stage to the supervision stage. Some do not engage engineers at all.

Some flimsy reasons include trying to cut down costs. The consultancy fee is not that much, yet the engineer’s work will save a client money, many times over what they pay the engineer as a consultancy fee. Involving engineers at the design stage, tendering/procurement stage/process ensures that the client gets the best value for their money. You get superior services and materials at the most affordable market rates.

Some contractors are known to fleece clients, especially if they know there are no engineers to supervise and control them completely. Engage contractors directly at your own risk. Unless it is a design and build contract, always consider engaging engineers to design and supervise your project.

  1. Some Architects and other built environment professionals masquerade as engineers.

In many projects, architects are the first point of contact. Professional and ethical architects inform the client that other professionals, such as engineers, are required for the project to proceed. Such an architect cannot proceed with the project if the client refuses to recruit engineers as part of the consulting team.

In other cases, rogue and greedy architects deliberately avoid other necessary professionals from their projects. They think that engineers will ‘eat’ into their consulting fees. The results are there for everyone to see. Many residential houses/apartment projects do not have qualified engineers as part of the consulting team! Only the architect and the contractor! And we pretend to wonder, why are most of the collapsing projects residential in nature? And only in certain areas?

Why are serious business buildings not collapsing?

Why are serious residential buildings in high-end areas not collapsing? Because the clients and the architects involved in such projects are highly conscientious and will always seek to engage duly qualified professionals in all their projects.

Rogue architects, quantity surveyors, and project managers masquerading as engineers should be arrested and their practising licenses revoked.

  1. Arrogance and lack of respect for engineers by some cadre of professionals and institutions.

Some institutions do not respect engineers and their role in society. Since I know very little about the industry, I shall only limit observations to the few cases I have observed as a busybody.

I recently came across a study report (authored in 2019) titled “Research on Failure and Collapse of Buildings in the Construction Industry in Kenya” by the National Construction Authority of Kenya. In chapter seven, section 7.5, the report lists the Causes of Building Failures as follows:

  • Poor workmanship
  • Use of substandard materials
  • Non-compliance to building standards and regulations (Safety Requirements)
  • Inadequate structural design and overloading of the structure
  • Inadequate maintenance

The reasons listed above are obvious, and this is common knowledge.

As a layperson, what shocked me the most was the non-inclusion of the two premier engineering bodies in Kenya, the Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK) and the Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK). Were EBK and IEK consulted and engaged in any way during the study? Non-inclusion in the report may imply NCA did not bother to consult the most essential cadre of professionals in the industry while doing the study. A cursory reading of the ‘Acronyms and Abbreviations’ shows that other bodies such as AAK ( Architectural Association of Kenya) and BORAQs( Board of Registration of Architects and Quantity Surveyors) were acknowledged and perhaps involved in the study. How can engineers be left out of such a study?

Institutions and countries ignore engineers and their roles at their own peril.

  1. Lack of appreciation for the work of the major stakeholder professionals, who are engineers and architects in this specific case of the construction industry, in the name of saving cost.

A foreman can have experience 30 years of but the final details of design and quality control are a mark exclusively for qualified engineers. No registered professional engineer can accept this professional and ethical humiliation by misadvising their client when risk feasibility is clear that in case of heavy rains, weight/load, or earthquake, the house will be grounded.

Kenyan engineers are starting to face a lack of confidence among the citizenry. I have never heard of any building designed and supervised by the Chinese falling. Some Kenyans even consider giving a Chinese a side hustle to design and supervise small flats. The problem is that Kenyans believe that the collapsing buildings were done by Kenyan engineers, which may not be the case.

I eavesdropped on one engineer who I heard say:

“Draftsmen do most of the structural drawings approved by county governments. I have witnessed this in Nairobi. They even attach calculations that were prepared for another project, and they are approved.

At one time, someone requested I share with them calculations that do not indicate the project details on every page, and I declined. (His intention was to duplicate them for every project he submitted for approval)

He continued,

“Things are pretty bad.

The sad part is that most clients prefer to give the task of preparing architectural and structural drawings to the county staff or those brokers hanging around the offices, hoping things will be done swiftly.

NCA and County officers can’t push the client to engage structural engineers on implementation; some just come for KSh.5 000 and leave. (Structural engineers) involved may not be informed when construction begins as we all understand clients want to evade paying consultancy fees).

He added, “I know quite a several draftsmen that prepare structural drawings, and they are approved without question.”

I have been to some counties outside Nairobi where foremen and fundis were complaining that NCA officers had given them the go-ahead, but the Structural engineer has disapproved of the quality of their workmanship.

“Clients- have asked me why I am saying I was not informed of supervision, and yet NCA Engineers have been supervising the project.

And the clients say I am overcharging because the NCA Engineer charges 5K per site visit.

Sometimes we have to pull out that they may be ‘helped’ by NCA Engineers.

NCA officers have a right to come to the site and check the quality of work but not to replace the Structural Engineer and the Architect.”

(And yet when doing project Registration, they advise the client to find a supervision team.).”

To educate my fellow Kenyans on the building construction process, I shall begin with the main building stakeholders. If you have a project, try to ensure you have engaged a professional consulting team.

Typical Project Team:

1.The Management Team

The owner often utilises the services of management and consulting companies that can relieve the internal staff from the burden of managing a large project. These entities may work with the project’s real estate, construction management, or logistical aspects.

The Developer.

Developers generally find land (with or without an existing building), invest in it to generate income, and prepare it for sale or lease to a potential buyer or lessee.

The developer is concerned about the project’s budget, schedule, and scope. In addition, because the developer is often financially invested in the project, they are even more sensitive to project costs and future value.

Construction or Program Manager.

The construction manager (CM) is a separate entity hired by the owner to manage the construction process. The CM’s job is to manage the schedule, scope and budget of the building for the owner. Sometimes also called the program manager (PM), the CM maintains the approved program (the document that establishes the basic parameters of the building, including overall size, budget, features, quality and space configurations, allocations and adjacencies).

Sometimes, the CM hires the architect and general contractor. Or, the CM merely coordinates the process while the owner holds the contracts.

Building Management Agency.

Some building owners may hire a building management agency to handle day-to-day operations, maintenance and leasing. Managers may be located in the buildings they manage or off-site. The management agency may be the gatekeeper for when and how contractors can work in a building. They are concerned about the operation of the building and the comfort of the existing tenants, and/or the disruption of their routine. As a result, they have a great deal to say about which contractors are hired and when they can work in a building.

2 .Project Design Team

The team comprises the architect, interior designer, engineers and other consultants.

In addition to the architect, other designers are critical players in building construction. The most typically required roles are mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (these three are often referred to as “MEP”) and structural engineer.

Architect

The architect is responsible for the design and functionality of the building to meet the owner’s programmatic needs, aesthetic expectations, and budgetary requirements. The architect is also responsible for the project’s life safety and building code compliance. Generally, the architect’s firm holds the “prime” contract for the building and the technical system designs, subcontracting other design consultants under its contract.

The architect’s role can be filled by individuals from a wide variety of practices, including individual architects in practice (standard architectural firms), combined with engineers (either A/E or E/A firms), and combined with contractors (design-build firms) or as licensed representatives of the owner’s own staff. There may be two architectural/engineering design team entities if the project’s complexity warrants it. This is common for large projects where there may be a design team for the base building and another for the interior fit. Often one team represents the building owner and the other the end-user.

Interior Designer

The interior designer is closely associated with the architect and may even be the same individual performing both roles. The designer is most often concerned with the furnishing and appearance of the room: how the wall, floor, ceiling and furnishings are finished and situated. They advise on or decide if surfaces are to be painted, fabric-covered, tiled or textured and what product, material, colours and patterns are to be provided.

Quantity Surveyor

A quantity surveyor (QS) is concerned with construction costs and contracts. Services provided by a quantity surveyor may include: Cost planning and commercial management throughout the entire life cycle of the project from inception to post-completion, Value engineering, Risk management and calculation, Procurement advice and assistance during the tendering procedures, Tender analysis and agreement of the contract sum, Commercial management and contract administration, Assistance in dispute resolution, Interim valuations and payment assessment, Cost management process, Assessing the additional costs of design variations

Mechanical Consultant.

The mechanical consultant designs the heat, ventilating and air conditioning systems (often called “HVAC”). This consultant works with the architect to determine the mechanical system needs for the building and creates the designs that include the chillers, pumps, fans, piping, ducts, diffusers, and grilles that heat, cool and ventilate the building. In addition, the mechanical consultant, in conjunction with the electrical consultant, often deals with building automation systems that include computer-based monitoring, control and diagnostics of the mechanical system.

Plumbing Consultant

The plumbing consultant is responsible for the piping associated with water and waste into and within the building. This includes sprinkler piping, chiller water for the HVAC system, and natural gas service.

Electrical Consultant

The electrical consultant designs the “high voltage” power distribution systems in the building. This includes the basic electrical power systems from the power company’s entrance to the facility, following through to the power outlets in the building. In addition, the electrical consultant often designs and/or coordinates the conduit and cable tray designs that support the “low voltage “systems, such as data/telecom, AV, life safety and security systems. In many cases, the electrical consultant work entails security design, Audio Visual Systems, BMS, Structured Cabling, and Light Design.

Structural Consultant

The structural consultant is the designer of the building structure. This involves fundamental decisions, such as whether the building will be formed of concrete or steel frame and the size, spacing, and placement of beams, joists or columns throughout the building.

Audio Visual (AV) Designer.

Throughout the project process, the AV designer analyses the end-users’ needs and translates them into infrastructure and systems designs. AV designers must be focused on coordinating and monitoring the process from start to finish to ensure the AV system’s success. The electrical consultant can also carry out this role.

Lighting Consultant

The lighting consultant is responsible for determining the required lighting for each space and must provide the layout and specifications for the lighting system for each area. This includes the fixture types, lamps, wiring and control features (switching and dimming) associated with each space. The electrical consultant can also carry out this role.

Data/Telecom Consultant

Data/Telecom includes the design of the cabling and physical infrastructure (sometimes called the “structured cabling system”) that accommodates local area computer networking, Internet access, telephone systems, and other communications systems. Typically, the scope of work includes the cabling, space planning, and associated infrastructure requirements, such as conduit and power requirements. The electrical consultant can also carry out this role.

Acoustical Consultant

The acoustical consultant designs the building components that affect sound isolation, reverberation time and noise reduction as they relate to every physical element of the building, including ceiling, wall and floor finishes, wall and floor/ceiling constructions, window selections, fan and chiller selections, duct and pipe routing, equipment mountings and room shapes.

Working closely with the architect, interior designer, HVAC engineer, and AV contractor, the acoustical consultant can properly establish the appropriate acoustic criteria for each space and provide a recommendation. The electrical consultant can also carry out this role.

Security Consultant

The security consultant deals with audio and video equipment such as cameras, microphones, recording equipment, and video displays as part of the security designs. These specialised systems include barrier construction, door lock and card key systems, and owner procedural issues.

If the security system is not completely separate from the AV system, there may be a crossover where cameras, microphones, video displays or intercom systems are positioned. The AV and security consultant need to coordinate their system designs and infrastructure to ensure that they are operating in alignment. The electrical consultant can also carry out this role.

Life Safety Consultant

Life safety systems provide an emergency alert to building occupants. The most common design issues are related to fire detection, occupant alerts or hazardous substances, such as natural gas and refrigerant leaks.

Other Industry- or Trade-specific Consultants.

Numerous other “industry-specific” consultants may be involved in any building project, especially when the building requires specialised systems, such as a restaurant, hospital, lab or theatre. Even standard office buildings may involve consultants for door hardware, landscaping, or civil engineering.

3.The Installation Team.

After the designers convert the owner’s requirements to paper (and electronic documents), the installers/contractors begin their work. Installation contractors are often firms solely dedicated to installation. However, in a design-build process, the designers and installers may be part of the same company. In some cases, a “fast-track” process is used in which construction starts before some of the designs are finished (e.g. structural designs are completed, and construction begins before the interior space plans are designed).

For all installation team members participating in the construction phase, coordination is key.

General Contractor.

The general contractor (GC) or main contractor (MC) is the counterpart to the architect; he holds the prime contract with the owner (or the owner’s representative) for building the facility. The MC may have some “in-house” capabilities for site construction, but most of the work is managerial. MCs hire most of the speciality work to subcontractors while they coordinate, arbitrate, facilitate, and schedule all the work that needs to be completed.

Subcontractors.

There are many subcontractors to the general contractor. Mostly, these are the contractor counterparts to the various trade designers previously discussed. They include contractors in charge of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and other traditional trades and other specialised trades such as data/telecom and AV. Coordination of work and scheduling between these subcontractors and the other trades during the construction phase is critical to the ultimate success of any project.

Close coordination is required among the electrical contractor, the AV consultant, the AV integrator, the data/telecom installers, and the other low-voltage contractors. Their installation sequencing and infrastructure scheduling will determine when the AV designer can begin to pull cabling and start installing and testing equipment. Back box, conduit, cable tray locations and installation will often require review by the AV contractor and electrical consultant during construction, which also requires coordination. If any electrical outlets serve the AV systems, they may require special treatment, such as power conditioning or isolated grounding schemes.

Typical Traditional Building Procedure

Though this section describes the basic traditional building procedure, the procedure could be improved by:

  • More questioning of the cost-effectiveness of proposed building components and greater efforts to obtain better alternatives.
  • Coordinating the work of various design and construction specialists to achieve more cost-effective designs, for example, the use of multipurpose building components in which the products of two or more specialities are integrated. This can be achieved by employing Building Information Modelling (BIM) techniques.
  • Placing relevant emphasis on both construction and life-cycle costs.
  • Having construction experts contribute their knowledge of construction and costs to the design process. These could include construction managers, project managers, etc.
  • Use of techniques that will reduce the number of mistakes and omissions in design that are not discovered until after construction starts. This can be completely achieved by employing Building Information Modelling (BIM) techniques.

Now back to Typical Traditional Building Procedure.

What Designers Do

The client or owner starts the design process by engaging an architect. The client should choose an architect with a reputation for good design and low construction costs. However, clients do not always act in their best interest in their choice of architect.  Instead, some owners shop around for the architect with the lowest fee.  Yet, a good designer can provide a high-quality building and, at the same time, save the owner several times the design fee in lower construction costs.

Role of the Architect

The architect (in conjunction with the client) usually selects consulting engineers and consultants to assist in the design.  A good architect selects engineers with a reputation for good design and low construction costs. These engineers mainly include; Electrical Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, Structural/Civil Engineers, and Cost Engineers (or quantity surveyors). Legally, the architect acts as an agent of the owner. Thus, after design, the architect awards a construction contract to a general contractor and later inspects construction on behalf of the owner, who is obligated to pay the contractor for the work done.

Planning generally consists of determining the following:

  • What internal and external spaces the owner needs.
  • The sizes of these spaces.
  • Their relative location.
  • Their interconnection.
  • Internal and external flow, or circulation, of people and supplies.
  • Degree of internal environmental control.
  • Other facilities required.
  • Enhancement of appearance inside and outside (aesthetics).
  • How to maximise beneficial environmental impact and minimise the adverse environmental impact of the project.

Engineering generally consists of the following processes:

  • Determining the enclosures for the desired spaces
  • Choosing the means of supporting and bracing these enclosures.
  • Providing the enclosures and their supports and bracing with suitable characteristics, such as high strength, stiffness, durability, water resistance, fire resistance, heat-flow resistance and low sound transmission.
  • Determining the means of attaining the desired environmental control (HV AC, lighting, noise)
  • Determining the means of attaining the desired horizontal and vertical circulation of people and supplies
  • Providing for water supply and waste removal
  • Determining the power supply needed for the building and the means of distributing the required power to the places where it is needed in the building.
  • Determining communication and entertainment infrastructure in the building.
  • Providing for the safety of occupants in emergency conditions, such as fire.

What Contractors Do

The owner selects the general/main contractor.  The architect provides advice and assists the owner in reaching a decision.  The owner may pick a contractor based on price alone (bidding) or negotiate a price with a contractor chosen based on reputation.

Sub-Contractors

These can be brought on board in two ways:

  1. The consultants help choose independent sub-contractors who then enter into a contract with the main contractor.
  2. The general contractor selects the various subcontractors who will be needed. Selection is generally based on the lowest price obtained (bidding) from reputable companies with whom the contractor believes it will be easy to work. The contractor compensates the subcontractors for the work performed

Steps in the Basic Traditional Building Procedure

Conceptual Phase

During data collection, the architect may have formulated some concepts of the building, but on completion of the program, he formalises the concepts-translates requirements into spaces, relates the spaces and makes sketches illustrating his ideas.

Quantity Surveyors/Cost estimators then prepare an estimate of the construction cost for the selected solution. Since practically no details of the building design have been decided at this stage, the result is called a rough cost estimate.  If the estimate is within the owner’s budget, the solution can be prepared for submission to the owner for approval.

Design Development

After the architect receives, in writing, the owner’s approval of the schematic drawings and rough cost estimate, the design is developed in detail. In this phase, the designers concentrate on technology.  The objective of this phase is to bring the building into clearer focus and to a higher level of resolution.  The phase culminates in completing preliminary construction drawings, outline specifications and preliminary cost estimates.

In the conceptual phase, the architect’s aesthetic concerns were mainly with function, mass and space.  During design development, the architect pays more attention to surface and detail.

  • The structural engineer prepares drawings showing the framing and sizes of components.
  • The mechanical engineer shows the layout of pipes, air ducts, fixtures and HV AC equipment.
  • The electrical engineer indicates in drawings the location and type of lighting fixtures and layout of electric wiring and control equipment, such as switches and circuit breakers. The electrical engineers also carry out ICT design and provide data on escalators and elevators.

Contract Documents Phase

The design effort’s ultimate objective is to produce information and instructions to constructors to ensure that a building will be produced in complete accordance with the design agreed on by the owner and the architect.

The information and instructions are provided to the builder in the form of working or construction, drawings and specifications.

These are incorporated in the construction contract between the owner and the builder and therefore become legal documents.  As such, they must be prepared with extreme care to be sure that they are precise and that their intent is clear.

In the contract documents phase of design, the designers’ efforts are concentrated mostly on details and refinements since the main features of the building were worked out in design development and approved by the owner.  If changes have to be made in the design at this stage, they are likely to be much more costly than if they had been made in earlier phases.  With the advice of legal counsel, the architect also prepares the construction contract.

With the final details of the design worked out, a more accurate estimate of construction cost can now be made. If this estimate exceeds the owner’s budget, the designers must revise drawings or specifications to decrease prices.

Contract Award

After the contract documents have been approved, the architect assists the owner in obtaining bids from contractors or negotiating a contract with a qualified contractor. The architect also aids in evaluating proposals submitted by contractors and in awarding the contract.