Stakeholders in the built environment contend that the bulk of the nation’s building failures were caused by the failure to implement sustainable design norms.
Abimbola Windapo, a professor of construction management at the University of Cape Town, said that the number of building collapses in the nation will keep rising if the government did not take aggressive steps to ensure and enforce compliance with sustainable construction standards.
She made the observation that technological, human, and environmental factors contributed to building collapse and asked the government and other built environment stakeholders to address the underlying issues.
Additionally, Windapo encouraged the government to implement a rewards system. She also advocated for proactive actions, such as a government award program for those who follow building standards.