By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie

THE Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON)  has said its Architects Projects Registration Number (APRN) will tackle building collapse and save the jobs of its members.

Its President, Mr. Dipo Ajayi at a briefing recalled a meeting executives of the council held with officials of the Lagos State Government on how to solve the problem of building collapse.

Ajayi affirmed that the adoption of APRN  would, among others, reduce the menace of building collapse and protect architects in construction.

During the briefing, he noted building failures in the public and private sectors, urging states to embrace the council’s APRN initiative.

APRN, he explained, entails the  numbering of architectural projects  and that this would help the council to monitor projects across the country.

He said: “We want to collaborate with state governments to ensure that APRN becomes operational in all the states in country.  And we have been creating awareness on this.

‘’According to the process, all architectural projects/drawings are prepared only by fully registered architects, submitted to ARCON and assigned the ARCON Project Registration Number (APRN) before submission for planning/implementation approvals.

We go the whole hog to protect our professional practice and the lives of the public. No registered architect will trifle with his membership of the body by engaging in unwholesome activities or compromising his professional ethics.”

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Ajayi said APRN will also eliminate quackery and ensure that only registered architects/architectural firms prepare and submit designs for planning/implementation approval and receive such when they were ready.

He said some of the building collapse were due to the non-involvement of professionals and poor designs; over-perpetual loading, adding that there must be re-engineering, rebuilding and re-planning of the entire Lagos Island space.

Ajayi said this measure would complement the old practice of submitting building designs with a copy of the architect’s practice licence, the affixing of ARCON stamps, signed by the architect with ARCON’s seal on each sheet of the drawings submitted for approval.

On why architects body insist on leadership of the seven professionals in the building sector, he said they do the drawings and understand what a particular client wants and that it is only natural for them to be in-charge of a project, especially since the clients  relate with architects first on any standard project.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning & Urban Development, Dr. Idris Okanla Salako, spoke of the preparedness of the government to collaborate with organisations and associations that would deliver service and complement the jobs of the ministry.

He said the state was worried over the incessant collapse of buildings  and was working towards its eradication.

Receiving the working document from Ajayi, he promised to study it and revert to the architect body on the way forward.