04/09/2021
This building has fuelled debate allover. Just an overview of the structure failure. I bet if you follow up, this building had no qualified professionals, since I believe that for a building to fail, it takes a series of Engineering misconduct and not only one, no professional can make continuous errors knowingly, unless half baked goons. Otherwise uncontrollable circumstances.This is mostly caused by uneven settlement of the ground, which may be caused by one of these problems that I will go through fast. This may give you an insight of safe building as a Client, Engineer , developer or just interested in construction.
POOR FOUNDATION -This may be caused by insufficient foundation depth, poor foundation materials selection, poor foundation concreting, all these require a Structural engineer to design all these and advise. Incase you have come across a design you might have seen a note To Structural engineers satisfaction. This means they have a great structural role to play. You'll meet a note 'foundation depth to be determined at the site' all this is done by a structural engineer. When you give fundis to take over your site just to escape professional cost, Just imagine how much loss this building owner will undergo.
SUBSOIL PROPERTIES - Soils differ from region to region, layer to layer and this needs to be a big part in design, I know most people try to escape the scope and spoil process, dumping is an issue, Fill materials is another added cost, but imagine the overall loss.
Some soils are expansive and can cause uneven settlement.
Underground water levels may rise, causing the soil below to soften. Thus a need for geotechnical investigation before construction, especially tall buildings.
Always Engage Professionals in your projects, even a small rural home, have someone visit your site atleast once a week and give advice and directions, when your fundi has a question he can help out.