Two high-rise buildings in Ikoyi, Lagos, are on the verge of collapse after failing experts’ integrity test.
Recall that a high-rise building under construction by Fourscore Heights Limited along Gerrard Road in Ikoyi fell on November 4, 2021, killing at least 44 people.
The Lagos State Government was also reported to have approved 26 suggestions made by the Toyin Ayinde-led commission that probed the collapse of the 21-story structure, which also killed the project’s developer, Mr. Femi Osibona.
According to Chukwurah Godfrey, a member of the tribunal set up to probe the Ikoyi building collapse, the tribunal delivered its findings to Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, after conducting proper investigations into the circumstances that contributed to the high-rise structure’s collapse.
Sanwo-Olu had formed a committee to examine the report and publish a white paper in response.
Godfrey added: “When we presented our report, the government set up a four-man committee to analyze it and produce a white paper, which they did.
“The committee came up with a white paper and accepted almost all of our recommendations except two. The ones that they accepted are the ones we are now waiting for and hoping they implement.”
He added that integrity tests conducted on some of the adjourning buildings revealed that the high-rise structures were at risk of collapse due to structural inadequacies and professional ineptitude on the part of the developer.
He said, “There are two standing towers, 15 floors each on that compound by the same developer and another one which is the gym house on six floors.
“Based on the structural designs that were made, we conducted some tests and those tests indicated that the two standing towers which are not fully loaded yet with dead load; by the time they are fully loaded with dead load, some columns on the first floor and ground (floor) will fail, and when they fail, of course you know that the building will come down.”
“The dead load is the load of the structure (as of when completed), now it is not completed. We have the live load and the dead load in engineering. The live load is the weight of the furniture, those living on it, and all of that; your utensils, furniture, appliances, electronics, and humans.”
Godfrey said when his team simulated the design and the quality of concrete that they had used on the other ones, it was noticed that some columns had collapsed on the ground and first floor.
“When you impose live load on when the building is fully loaded, then you have more failure. So in such a situation, there is no way we would recommend that people should occupy that structure,” he stated.
Similarly, a source at the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Agency, who did not want to be named, also confirmed that the adjourning buildings to the collapsed structure along Gerrard Road failed integrity tests conducted in line with the investigations of the panel.
The source said, “The test they conducted on the other two buildings failed. A test was carried out on other buildings surrounding the structure and they failed that test.”
