Firm sets up house safety testing tool

Owners of buildings under construction and potential home buyers can now verify the structural quality of the buildings free of charge.

Questworks, a design-build firm in the energy and real estate industry based in Nairobi, yesterday announced that it had started lending out a concrete examination device to promote best construction practices.

The company’s lead consultant and chief executive, Mr Raul Figueroa, said the gadget would be lent out once applicants commit to its safety and leave a deposit fee as guarantee. The fee is collected within five days of return of the gadget.

FOCUS ON AESTHETICS
“Most building owners or potential buyers pay attention to the aesthetic finishes of the buildings and forget the structural quality that is even more crucial. We want to empower them to start relying on their own findings, which will change the industry professional approach and ensure our buildings are safer,” said Mr Figueroa yesterday.

The engineer, who is also the director of a project to establish an engineering school at Strathmore University, said three out of four buildings in Nairobi have poor concrete strength, risking the lives of millions who occupy them.

A mobile application to help monitor construction quality is also being developed to allow owners of buildings to check concrete quality.
Contractors reportedly prepare special concrete samples for laboratory tests but cut down on cement use and ignore standards in the rest of the material used for construction.

In a report released late last year, the Questworks boss claimed that almost all buildings outside the Nairobi’s Central Business District were constructed using substandard concrete.