The Council of the Sierra Leone Institute of Architects (SLIA) and the Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers (SLIE) have warned that more buildings are still likely to fail due to the greed and incompetence of unqualified and unregistered builders who keep masquerading as Architects and Engineers in Sierra Leone.

The two institutions made this statement at their first collaborative response to the recent spate of collapsing buildings in Freetown. The meeting was led by Ing. Oba Agwu Jones, President of the SLIE and Arc Manilius Garber, President of SLIA and was attended by other executives of both bodies who discussed a number of issues related to the primary causes of the recent collapse of buildings in the Western Area.

They brainstormed on ways and means of preventing future building failures and urged members of the public and developers not to undertake the construction of buildings without the engagement of registered Architects and Engineers.

They also discussed the building permit issuance mechanism at the Ministry of Lands and warned, that going forward, it should cease to be business as usual.

Related News

They called on those responsible for the issuance
of permits to be more circumspect and more thorough by insisting that only buildings and developments designed by registered professionals are processed for permits.

Concluding, they urged government to expeditiously set in motion the process of passing into law the current Draft National Building Code which was articulated by the SLIA in 2021. The meeting ended by urging members and the council of both institutions to be more proactive and make themselves.