The Impact of Changes or Un-inspected Works during the Construction Phase in Building Failures: The Structural Checkup

Over the past decade, numerous buildings have collapsed, resulting in catastrophic consequences, including the loss of hundreds of lives and substantial material costs. These collapses were often due to structural failures linked to problems arising during construction, such as uncontrolled design changes or inadequately inspected works. Despite numerous studies and reports aiming to identify solutions, the complexity of the involved systems and variations in international legislation have rendered a universal solution nearly impossible. This exploratory research identified four primary causes: (1) poor initial design, (2) miscommunication of design requirements, (3) poor construction practices and (4) failure in monitoring and controlling design changes. The solution identified outlines a proposal to critically examine the current practices of reinforced concrete structural inspections to evaluate their effectiveness in documenting construction processes and identifying potential risks associated with these practices. New technologies could be pivotal in developing a classification system for building structures to gauge their integrity levels. An initial set of tests is proposed, serving as a reference for future building 'structural check-ups' to assess the ongoing and future reliability of a building’s framework. This is generally applicable across different countries and regulatory frameworks.