ARCON plans enforcement unit, begins project registration
To eliminate quackery in architectural practice, Architects Registration Council Of Nigeria (ARCON) has announced plans to set up an enforcement and compliance unit, which will ensure that only registered members handle architectural projects in the country.
The council in a statement said that the measures would be in consonance with the extant laws and complement the content and spirit of the National building codes.
According to ARCON President, Sir Dipo Ajayi, the unit will ensure that only professionals with the requisite knowledge and expertise of the building process are engaged to carry out building projects and are duly governed by the various Acts in the statute books.
“The Council is working in concert with other interest groups to get the built environment properly policed to avoid or reduce to the barest minimum the issue of building collapse and its attendant effect on the developer and the national psyche,” he said.
Speaking on the recent building collapse in Abuja, Ajayi observed that the current incidences and others in the past, shows that developers and various institutions, hire unregistered persons posing to be architects/consultants (quacks) and foreigners to carry out projects in Nigeria, thereby subjecting the unsuspecting public to great risk, that ultimately results in loss of life and property.
To mitigate such incidences, he said: “the Council has set up the ARCON Projects Registration Number (APRN) system, which is a mandatory registration number to be issued to all architects practicing in Nigeria, for each of their projects, to certify that these projects are designed, handled and executed by Nigerian citizens fully registered to practice in Nigeria.
“While the APRN is intended to combat the scourge of building failure and collapse through the elimination of quackery, it is also to ensure that only fully registered and financially current architects/architectural firms prepare, produce and submit designs for planning/implementation approval and receive such approvals when they are given.
“Architects and architectural firms who are registered with the Council are to submit architectural building plans for approval /implementation and are responsible for the supervision of their designs.”
Ajayi explained that “the measure is to complement the old practice of submitting building with a copy of the architect’s current practice licence, the affixing of ARCON stamps, signed by the architect and sealed (with the architect’s ARCON seal) on each sheet of the drawings submitted for approval, a letter from the client stating that the architect will be responsible for the supervision of their architectural design during the construction period.
“The placement of the ARCON number on each sheet of the drawings submitted for approval and the placement of the APRN number, together with the architect’s (or architectural firm’s) name /registration-number, on the project sign board upon commencement of construction.”
Meanwhile, the council has commended the quick response of the emergency rescue team, led by the National Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Capital Territory Emergency Agency. Ajayi stated that the urgent steps taken by the administration clearly shows that it is a caring one and observed that ARCON is in full support of all initiatives to bring the ugly incidences of collapse building under control.
SOURCE: https://guardian.ng/property/
