The collapse of the 6-storey Achimota Melcom Shopping Centre building on Wednesday November 7, 2012 was unwelcome shock that came upon us, as a country with its attendant loss of lives, injury to many (both staff and early shoppers), loss of property and many other uncertainties. The ripples we cannot easily quantify as some will go into the distant future. The Ghana Institution of Surveyors joins the entire nation to mourn those who have lost their lives and express our grief and condolences, to their families. We also want to identify ourselves with those who got different degrees of injury and hope and pray they get healed quickly and no permanent disability arises out of the accident. We, of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors take the opportunity to congratulate the rescue team and medical staff who engaged the assignment, to save lives, rescue those trapped under debris of concrete beams and columns, block work, steel trusses etc., with speed, efficiency and effort. Congratulations and our nation is grateful to you. May God bless you? In our assessment, this is a national disaster which must engage our attention. We, of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors are most worried and nervous of this Achimota Melcom occurrence, but not only that alone, but the safety of all the numerous multi-storey buildings above 2 storey floors that are springing up within Accra City and other cities in the Country, most often Commercial buildings which have not met structural design standard. The worse of all, are remodelling of old existing structures into 4-storey, 5-storey or more, without adequate examination of the existing structure to find out whether they are structurally sound and whether the necessary structural additions are made. What we find and very often is the case is that you see a foundation started, which from our professional point of view is for a single storey building or maximum a 2-storey building. With time the ground floor is completed, they may wait for a while and add another floor, then another and another. If you take the trouble to visit the construction site, it is under a mason, being supervised by the building owner or the investor who very often may be a lay person to construction, let alone a “high rise” building and always ensuring that there is high cost saving by using minimal reinforcement steel, minimal cement for concrete. Sometimes they even produce the blocks on the site in order to save cost. The end products of most of these efforts are always a danger waiting to happen, both to users and to the investment itself. We regret to mention that today, it is Melcom Achimota but we are very confident there are so many of such dangerous structures waiting for their day. Ghana is so blessed with the built environment professionals, from Surveyors, Architects, Engineers, and Planners etc. However, they are not always involved in the design and the construction of these buildings, especially when it is a private effort and informal sector. Every building requires structural soundness, meaning that columns and beams designed are strong enough to carry more than the maximum loads that will ever be imposed on the structure. These loads include the self weight of all the materials within the building and other imposed loads during use, like human beings coming in and out (in the case of this shop) , the goods being sold, equipment like trolleys and the vibrations they generate during use etc. Hence, a Structural Engineer must carefully design for strength of columns, beams, roof trusses etc. The Architect must design to plan for space and space utilisation, circulation within the building, aesthetic etc. Surveyors are needed to ensure that the building is located as planned, ensure the verticality of the structure as this has dire consequences on safety of the building, proper costing of the building and insist that what is planned for in cost is what is done (cost saving, not cost cutting), and then the structure is kept in good conditions by proper maintenance. RECOMMENDATIONS 1)As a matter of urgency we, as an Institution are ready to assist by way of providing our professional inputs to the Committee set up by the Government to investigate the incident. 2)Secondly, we recommend that the authorities must bring all institutions involved in the granting of permit to order. Ensuring that these authorities are adequately resourced with both personnel and equipment to provide this very important function. We as a people must also encourage the demolition of all structures built without Building Permit. 3)We suspect that there may be a lot of other similar Buildings within Accra and other cities waiting for their day of collapse. A national Task Force must be set up to inspect existing structures to determine their strength and possible life span remaining and those found inadequate must be demolished. There is also the need to start doing deformation measurements on all high rise buildings to know whether they are sinking, tilting or swinging. 4) The Government must not only educate developers and the public to use professionals in this field but must pass a law to make it mandatory to do so. 5)All buildings are required by law to be insured against all these risks and more particularly Commercial buildings. The law must be enforced. The process of insurance must require the examination of basic parameters of the structure, this will also help in quality control. 6)The Building Inspection Division of the Metropolitan and District Assemblies must be resourced especially with professionals to ensure that our building code is observed. Finally the Ghana Institution of Surveyors could help, if given the chance to be part of the team of experts in the built environment to produce the Terms of Reference for the investigative Body that will look into the cause(s) of collapse of the 6-Storey Melcom Building at Achimota and any future steps to stop the recurrence of this preventable national disaster. Signed. Surveyor Daniel K Kyere(FGhIS) (President)