Mitigation of liability for negligence in design and construction: case study of collapsed buildings in Nairobi.

Abstract

This study is about mitigating liability for negligence in the Kenyan design and construction industry. Mitigation of liability as used in this study refers to reducing the damages that arise as a result of negligent practices of participants during construction. The problem which has been studied is that of collapsing buildings as it has been noted that building failures is a common phenomena in Kenya. The study investigates the various causes of failures in the construction industry with a view to recommending possible ways of reducing these occurrences or avoidinq them at all costs. The study has covered the role played by participants in the construction industry, who are; the clients, architects, contractors, quantity surveyors, engineers, the governing authorities, and the ministry of public works. Their role in contributing to a failure-free construction industry has been highlighted. An in-depth study has ~een carried on three cases of collapsed buildings, which have been taken as the case study for this research. Purposive sampling technique has been used to identify the case studies of this research. Reports which have been written by government commissions on collapse of buildings have also been looked at with a view of establishing the recommendations pegged towards reducing building failures in Kenya. Based on the findings of this research, the research concludes that the case studies sampled for this study. had very evident causes of failures linked to clients' poor administration of contracts and partly professional negligence. The study recommends education and training to clients so as to create awareness of the benefits of always including professionals who are registered in their projects. Its also recommends active participation of the government and professional bodies in the supervision of both-public arid p'ivate projects, to avoid coming up of low standard buildings.