COREN plans new law on structural engineering practice

Better days are ahead for the built environment in Nigeria as a new law regulating structural engineering practice is underway.

The law is intended to check spate of construction failures, prevent loss of life and property.

President, Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Rabiu Ali, disclosed this at the inauguration of Peter Igbinijesu as the 21st President of the Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers (NIStrustE) in Abuja.

He said since COREN lacked the requisite manpower to carry out some of its mandate, it relies on NISTructE and other institutions under the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) to carry out its mandate.

He pledged to partner with NISTructE and others to ensure that COREN deliver good infrastructure to the country.

At the event, themed: ” Professional Harmony in the Built Environment,” former President, Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA), Tonye Oliver Braide, called for collaboration between engineers and architects to ensure preservation of the built environment.

Braide, who was the guest lecturer, said cities should be seen in the totality of a complex whole and not in the individuality of singular buildings.

He noted that architecture is much more than just drawings but can form the connectivity that creates the life and soul of a community in the built environment.

In his lecture titled: “An Architect’s Perspective in the Built Environment”, Braide stressed that every living thing is a good enough architect and engineer for himself.

According to him, while they may work in areas of specialisation, they all work in tandem towards the success of a collective goal.

Braide noted that engineering is universal for each and every one carries out basic engineering tasks in our daily lives.

According to him, these principles are the keys, which all must seek to create the built environment.

He said: “As partners in the development of the built environment, architects and engineers should form the right synergies to achieve a seamless cooperative template.

“There should be no difference in the city fabric in Paris, New York, Sydney, Tokyo and Abuja or Benin, but points of deviation may occur, which could be in the cultural identity of each city.

“Cities are developed for man by man, and there should be a global parity of performance indicators in every city.

“Good designs and engineering can produce fantastic designs for flyovers, skyscrapers and a couture of urban indices, but it is the act of political will that determines who builds ten flyovers in one year or one flyover in ten years.”

In his inaugural speech Igbinijesu pledged to implement the soon to be approved structural engineering regulation.

He plans to adopt existing policies of the institution to give room for continuity, especially in the area of training and continuous professional development.

The NIStructE president sought collaboration with government and all stakeholders, including COREN, NSE and private institutions to ensure safe built environment.

He further pledged that his administration would be proactive in responses to the scope of collapsed buildings and challenges of impunity in the built environment as well as ensure the adequacy of the existing laws and the currencies in the present age.