Ladega: Technology can Enable Remote Monitoring of Compliance in Construction Projects

Olusegun Paul Adetokunbo Ladega, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Interstate Architects Limited that clocked 70 years in December 2022. Ladega, a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, has practiced architecture for 41 years. He discusses the interesting progression of architectural practice from analogue drawings to building information modelling, construction of UCH Ibadan, LUTH, Lagos Island Maternity, and others. Bennett Oghifo presents Ladega’s views

Your firm, Interstate Architects Limited, is 70 years old and you have practiced for 41 years. How has it been all these years?

It’s been very interesting because I think the most interesting part of it is that those 70 years traversed periods of profound changes, both in the practice of architecture, the procurement of buildings, and even the means by which architects carry out their work. Those 70 years traversed a period of profound shifts from analogue hand drawn and simple calculation basis to mechanical drafting mechanisms, through the era of digital drafting and drawing, and now we are in the era of building information modeling. This whole spectrum from analog, basic hand drawing with simple calculation devices like the slide rule and co, to the time where you had the electronic calculator to full digitisation of the whole process when computers became the means by which we carry out our work. And not only has computers also transitioned us from basic digital drawing to full building information modelling, now we are in the realms where A.I., (Artificial Intelligence), virtual reality, VR, are now helping us to create digital twins of a building that is designed. So, it means that you have a building that is standing or that will eventually stand, and you have a digital replica of it created in virtual reality in the virtual world that you can go in, you can interact with. And that is where we are now. So you see it’s been quite profound. 

Evolution of procurement and design of buildings

Again, the procurement process from the simple, almost like handshake transaction to very complex procurement processes and even buildings have gone from buildings with just simple basic technologies like that. The early days were just basic, simple plumbing, and electricity in the buildings. Add a few other things, and that was it. So now, we’re in the era where we are creating highly intelligent buildings, where buildings respond to demands within and outside environments that the building sits in. We have lots of technology incorporated into buildings that enable us to create a better level of comfort, higher level of efficiency, and also a building that responds to climates, responds to the environment and the level of activity within. 

How has this evolution impacted your practise of architecture?

Well, it has. Yes, You know, maybe I should start with a bit of our history. Interstate Architects Ltd started as the resident architect’s office for Watkins Gray and Partners, a practice based in the UK that was founded by the year 1900 in Bristol. It opened a London office in 1931 and was awarded the consultancy services for the University College Hospital (U.C.H) Ibadan, which happens to be the very first university teaching hospital in Nigeria. And it meant that for the construction phase, which started in 1952, architects had to be sent out from the UK to be on site to monitor the construction works. So, that’s the origin of our firm. Well, some architects were sent from the UK to be resident on sites to monitor and supervise the construction work of the University College Hospital Ibadan. Of course, the gentlemen were quite resourceful because they interacted with society, with the environment. So very quickly, other health care building projects followed, like the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and then the Lagos Island Maternity and a number of other hospital projects, health care projects followed, which necessitated the establishment of more of a Nigerian office. It moved from just resident architects to now having a Nigerian office based on the amount of business that was coming. And of course, that translated into the firm making forays into other areas of the economy outside the health care sector. We became very privileged that by 1963, the practice had designed and supervised the construction of the First Central Bank of Nigeria branch office in Kano. And from then on till date Interstate Architects has remained the architect of choice for the Central Bank of Nigeria. So, that’s a relationship that has lasted almost 60 years now. 

Has this impacted how your firm work? 

It was hand drawings and basic calculations and quotes, using logbooks, radio recorders and co, to do all the calculations. Building is still standing today. And today, all that I can do from a very simple app on all handheld devices to deliver the same technology now. How has it impacted us? We’ve been able to become more efficient in our work, we’ve been able to become more accurate. We’ve been able to deliver our service much faster and the most important is that any building projects designed by architects are delivered through a collaborative process, where you have to work in collaboration with so many other professionals. Quite a number. I mean, the basic four most basic ones are electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, structural engineers and a quantity surveyor. But there are so many other specialists that the architect works with. In the process of delivering a building. The new technology makes collaboration very easy, more efficient, more effective. The fact is that with the technology that we have available to us today through building information, modeling technology, we all can work together in a virtual space. All the members collaborating with the architect to work together on the project. Not just do we have meetings, but we can jointly make additions, amendments and others, to the design as it goes along, and each one adds its own process. So, collaboration has become much more effective, the design process has also become very high, not just highly automated, but also much more easily integrated. So, integrating engineering into my building becomes more effective, much easier because we are working in the same virtual environment. I can see how the engineering interacts with and how it may affect or amend my building or how my building can make demands on the engineering and the response from the engineering. All that now happens practically. He is at the other end, I at this end, we are both looking at our screens. We are interacting and collaborating and iterating the design. That’s the beauty of what we have now. Whereas before you had to have physical meetings.

What are the challenges in the practice?

Well, in the industry generally, we now have issues. Number one and most important is that a lot of our regulations, codes and standards were developed in the analog era. They still serve us largely in a number of areas, where you look at codes and standards, but when you look at regulations, there is a need for very significant review because the way we work is completely different from what a lot of those regulations envisaged. They didn’t envisage the profound and destructive impact of digital, of digitisation, of the design process. I mean, it’s quite possible now for me to have a building realised without issuing a single piece of paper to anyone. Whereas before, everything was loads of papers, and we had our own tracking system in those days because you build it as a very complex organism. So as you’re going along, issues are coming up. You are going back to the drawing board in the literal sense, which is where the word going back to the drawing board came from, where you need to make amends. You have a design going on on site, something has come up unforeseen that you have to address. You discuss how to address it. You have to go back to the drawing board to now come up with a drawing that expresses the amendments, the alteration that has to be done. Right. I dare you issue a drawing now, which is now a later version. So we had a way of tracking all our drawings and then you put a revision number and you have your revision notes and that was how it was done and everyone followed. Then at the initial stage of digitisation, you still issued papers, which means your version history. Then we went to having digital version history, which is still the kind of thing you will see with your Microsoft Word or whatever. But now we have building information modelling. It’s a completely different kettle of fish, because what happens is that the model is updated and the updated model as of today is the information that everyone in that collaborative group has. So without colleagues, a single source of truth, means that there is one single digital model of the current status of design information. Now, that is a completely different world from where we had version history where we had revision numbers and co. The fact is that today this is where we are. And that seals it. And no one can contend with the fact that I don’t have the most correct information because everyone is interacting with one single model. And the date of your last visit is there. So now, what happens is that the new methods are then, like I said, possible for me without issuing a single piece of paper to deliver a building from conception to full realisation of sites. 

How can this be used in building regulation and monitoring?

Now that means that the whole process of regulating the service has to now factor this. I should be able to by virtual means submit my documents, file my documents for approval. The scenario now is that I send a digital copy. In some states you send a digital copy of a printout, so it means I upload a PDF file, which I can then get back. So I decided to print out and I’m required to keep all sites and all that for anyone visiting to be sure that you have approval and the people on site are following the approval. But with digital technologies that we have now, I need not even do that. I upload my model Into a space that is created, clouds that are created by the states those who need to interact with it to review information to confirm if everything meets all the standards category there. And then I get feedback that the project is green-lighted to go on or amendments are required, and then I make that update. The model simply just gets passed on to the builder. And from that model, the builder extracts the information that he needs to do his construction. In fact, these days from the model, information can be sent to machines even for setting out from my office now. I can monitor that a bit, and have been accurately set out on site without leaving the desk. It means that the authorities should be able to do that. Now, what that means is that we now have a situation where technology can actually enable remote monitoring of compliance with a construction project anywhere in the world. It means that it is with this capacity for remote monitoring authorities should use for deviants and failure to comply with regulations should actually be very rare, because it means there is no surface of the states where construction activity is going on that you cannot monitor. That is, there is no project that is going on that you should not be able to monitor. Simple GPS technology makes that available.

Do the regulators have the manpower, personnel to do what you are talking about?

Yes. As far as I’m concerned, manpower is not the issue. Because those of us who also handle the technology at this other end of the industry, we were not born with it. But the fact is that technology became available. We acquired it and we learned how to use it. Very simple. I mean, I’ve not gone to any university beyond the ones I attended when I graduated with my architecture degree, but I have attended hundreds of courses. That keeps me up to date with the latest technology and enables me to deploy. I use the latest technology. And I know that all the public sector institutions have admirable provisions for trading in their budgets. There are times when we go for some of these international conferences and training programmes. We meet our colleagues from the public sector also, attending expos, attending international conferences. So, the issue is never personnel. If I could tell you, some of the most brilliant professional colleagues of mine that I’ve met are people in the public service. You will be shocked at the calibre of people. It happens when I am shocked that I’m talking about the calibre of people in terms of level of knowledge, high level of knowledge and intelligence. 

Monitoring and problem of logistics

It could be a problem in terms of how to have a higher authority to grant permission for certain things to happen. Or simply as I think I’ve learned from some businesses, there’s insufficient resources. For instance, if people have to go for a monitoring, first they must be able to get to the location from where they are. I think it’s obvious what that means. Transportation must be available and let’s not deceive ourselves. The state of our public transportation in Nigeria is not such that can be relied on to enable those who have to perform this duty, perform it effectively. So it’s still important that there are official vehicles available. That is point number one. Starting point number two is that simple. Basic resources have to be available and in some instances you just realised that something you regard as almost insignificant becomes the stumbling block in the way. So there are handicaps, but they’re largely handicaps that can easily be removed. They’ve decentralised the process reasonably because you have zonal offices. But they should be able to monitor the activities. But the fact is that there is still a need for perhaps more personnel, because in some instances there is more work than the personnel can cover. We still have a culture of impunity in Nigeria, and as we’ve noted with one or two of the high class collapses, the boys went there and the big man decided to show them that he’s a big man. So, as long as we have this culture of impurity, where some people can get away with breaking the law, or some people are able to show that they are above the law, and nothing happens. So here I am. I’ve tried to carry out my job. As a construction civil servant I get there to enforce the rules and regulations. The big man tells me if you don’t get out of my premises, now, I will show you who I am, but the man keeps saying but you are breaking the law you are doing this you are doing that then he makes some calls. Then the young man is called to leave the place where he begins to get threats for doing his job, right and he feels he is not getting sufficient protection from within the system. What do you think the young man will do? As they say in Nigeria, you know, he will ‘borrow himself sense because’ it’s one of two things, he will either have to walk away from that system or choose to fight and know that there could be dire consequences. But he will just choose to fight the system, and say it must work, it could have consequences. It could be very severe. So and not often than not in Nigeria, you decide that you are the one who wants to champion the cause of doing things right. Firstly, they will just go to all your relatives, ‘make una go warn that una pikin no be so them they do am o. Na him be Mr Nigeria? warn your pikin o.’ (go and warn your child. This is not how it is done. Is he Mr. Nigeria?) They will probably go and tell his wife, you know you’re a young lady. ‘You see una just born pikin’ (you just had a baby). This thing that he’s doing is not how it happens? So if you’re asking the question, I think the answer is obvious. Some of the issues simply are, yes, some the bureaucracy may not work at the speed at which it should work to enable those who should do the job perform. In some instances, not always. In other instances, you have interests, powerful interests that their own economic interests are served by subverting the law, subverting the system. And they’re so powerful. Have we not seen it? A number of instances now? The Ikoyi collapse? We deceive ourselves if we say that was not part of what happened. There is an issue that the people in the Osborne Foreshore are fighting. That there are some developments going on there contrary to what Zoning regulations are supposed to permit. Till today the matter is not yet resolved. It is neither here nor there now.

Bureaucracy needs to be rejigged, and allow effective PPP

There are several factors. One, we have to admit that, like I said, the bureaucracy needs to be rejigged to enable those who have to do the roles of enforcement and monitoring to be able to perform more effectively. That is one, number two, sufficient resources have to be made available. Number three, I think there is insufficient manpower. Now, the manpower issue is one that has to be handled with care. You don’t flood the public sector or an informal sector with personnel, because there is a need at the moment or because of the level of conceptual activity going on at the moment. You say, because there is so much work, we need so many more men, but what then happens a decade down the line, when you may have plateaued at a certain level of activity, do you then lay them off? Now, this is where I think a PPP arrangement has to come in the area of monitoring to be able to make up for the gap, the manpower gap between the capacity that is in-house at the states and the actual need in the field. I’m suggesting that there should be a public private partnership, where professionals who are in private practice and professionals who have retired from the service, but are available, should be engaged on contract basis. Because we have professionals who have retired from the service, they know their records of those who were good, who are still healthy and mentally capable and alert, they can be called, they can be engaged on contract basis to do some of this monitoring work. They can also engage people in private practice to also do that, after all, they do it in the area of tax collection, they do it in the area of revenue collection, they use a combination of their own personnel and the external. So, why can’t it be reproduced in other areas so we are not talking about a model that is allien to the states or that the states have not tried before. 

Local architects and foreign incursion

It’s funny, because even during my time as President of the Association of Consulting Architects, we also took on the fight against foreign incursion. Now, maybe I need to put our history right so that you understand it. Yes. The firm you call Interstate Architects Limited today started life as a resident architect’s office of Watkins Gray and Partners which became Watkins Gray International. Now, the firm started as Watkins Gray and partners. Then some years later, after it has started. A gentleman called Cyril Woodgate also became a partner. So he then became Watkins Gray Woodgates and Partners, at a later time Woodgate pulled out of the partnership and the firm became Watkins Gray International by which time there had been a number of practices established in countries outside the UK, which included a number of African countries and some of Caribbeans and also the far East. So there was Watkins Gray, which at a point in time was WG W Nigeria, then Watkins Gray International Nigeria. And then in the early ‘70s, early 1970s, it was very interesting. The practice in Nigeria looked at the fact that there was a need to align with the aspirations of the country, the head of even, the country sale, it was the need to elevate some of the Nigerians within the practice to partnership status. And along with that came a change of date. It became an independent Nigerian practice, but associated with Watkins Gray International. So, you will see some of our papers. Interstate Architects Limited and Associated Practice of Watkins Gray International. So, that was the transition, where it became an independent practice, it then had majority Nigerian directorship although partnerships. So, they became a mixture of foreigners and Nigerians jointly running the firm as the partners, partners shareholders and then it became a majority Nigerian shareholding ownership and then to becoming a completely independent Nigerian practice because we then transited from that to becoming an independent Nigerian practice. In 1974 the practice fully complied with the requirements of the indigenisation policy decree. So, we met the the requirements 100 per cent because it was then majority Nigeria ownership and the non-Nigerians who were part of the ownership structure were those who were licenced with permits to practice in Nigeria so it meant that in the form of a question where it was a wholly Nigerian practice and everyone on the ownership of the business were either Nigerian architects registered or foreigners who were registered under the Nigerian registration act of Nigeria as permitted to practice in Nigeria. So, it meant there was nothing about the practice that was foreign, more or less it was a wholly independent Nigeria practice. Why are we talking against it is that there is an act of parliament, the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria Act and the act is very clear as to who can practice in Nigeria. So, if a foreigner wants to come into Nigeria, you can come in and form a partnership with Nigerians and it will be majority Nigeria owned, it will be Nigeria controlled company. I hope you understand me. So, first and foremost, there is law that says there is a requirement of registration of both the individual practitioners that form the firm and the firm both of them must meet the registration requirements and be fully registered. That is one. Number two, as far as we’re concerned, it is a drain on our foreign reserves going outside to procure consultancy services. Consultancy services is basically conceptual and intellectual work. So you’re going outside to procure intellectual work. I think that is not only a drain on our foreign reserves, is also an insult to our own citizens. It’s not technology, it’s not that you are going out there to procure a technology that we do not have. Right?. There are times where people go abroad for medical treatment. It’s not because you don’t have doctors that can treat them here. But it’s just that the technology to be applied to achieve the result does not exist here. Where it says there are some kinds of very complex medical procedures that we don’t have. We don’t have the machines to do them here. It’s not that we don’t have people who know how to do them, but we don’t have the machines. Some of them are high end. So, I can understand someone going there because they have to do something to him with a kind of special machine that is not available in Nigerian markets that I understand, but tell me please why you are procuring 100% intellectual service. 

How has the brain drain affected the architectural industry?

Wao! Thank you for that question. You see, I exclaimed, because even in this office alone, I can count the number of our staff who would be with us, who we’ve developed, because we also have our own internal human capital development processes. So it means that we had developed some of our personnel significantly only for them to say, I’m leaving. In fact, Canada is now the number one destination. More than 30% of our workforce in the last one year just called me to say, I’m leaving for Canada. It is a majority leaving for Canada. A few have left for the UK. This was precisely Scotland, which is also quite well. There must be something about Nigeria and Scotland, these days. Those who are migrating overseas and are leaving for overseas are highly experienced professionals. So this means we invested resources, training, and developing them. I mean, most times when architects come, as a practice, we encourage them, then we employ those that we see have potential to grow with the practice and perhaps ultimately become partners. So, that is part of our recruitment strategy. We look at that and if you look at every single one of us, who are directors of this business today. Every single one of us joined this firm as an employee. Today we are the business owners and it was recorded. And it’s our own hope and expectation that just as some people transited and we took over, we will also transit out of the system. So, we always have an eye on employing those that will take over from us. And then when you’ve now invested in developing the person, they just say again, ‘thank you very much, sir, but my visa to Canada has come out.’ So you simply have developed them for Canada. But there’s also the other one where we now have certain businesses in the financial sector that also were rendering practices like ours, where the architects get enticed by fat salaries to come up. We call it House Architects, especially in the banks, so that the banks developing their branch networks around the country, no longer come to private consultancy because they use their in-house architects. So again, they don’t just pick some young guy off the street. It’s the guys in well established firms and a number of us from well established firms that they recruit from only. Across the country, I can count the number of alumni of this organisation. 

What do you think will be the business outlook for the architectural sector in 2023?

2023 in particular. You know, our industry is very, very closely tied to the health of the economy and often to the level of disposable income available within the economy. I mean, our profession is closely tied to how buoyant the economy is. The fact is it’s looking at Nigeria as a whole. There’s a huge deficit in terms of the stock. Of buildings that we have for any type of activity, for practically any type of activity. People talk generally about the housing deficits. But look around. There’s even classroom deficits across our educational institutions. Do we have enough classrooms for primary school? Secondary school? Not without talking of universities. Yes. all our federal universities are overcrowded. Private ones also have limited capacity. Hospital beds too, do we have enough? So also markets, do we have enough? So if you look across almost every building type. There’s a huge gap between the number that we have and the number that is needed in this economy. So it means that if you look at it on the long term basis, there’s a huge prospect. Now 2023 in particular. What we need to look at in the direction of the economy first is that it’s an election year. Which means January, February, there may not be a lot of decisions made. People will be watching the barometer, the outcome of the election, how it goes and the perception. Of the individual who wins in terms of business friendly economy. Economic agenda and co. We then could either, Yes, in terms of people opening up their process to splash out on buildings or take a watch and see position. So inside are going to be bullish in terms of charging forward with projects because there is now a feel good factor that, oh yes, we got it right. In fact, let’s jump on the ship before it sails too far. Or bearish. We just hold. Let’s wait and see. So 2023, therefore, is very difficult. Very easily one could just have looked at the trend, what has been the growth in revenue, what has been the performance in certain sectors that are major patrons of the profession? There was a time when the hospitality industry was driving a boom for the profession because the number of hotels that were coming up, number of event venues that were opening and so on and so forth, and they were all high end. Uh, facilities that were being put up across the country, and they all required architects. Now, there’s been a bit of a slowdown in the hospitality and leisure sector as a major demand, but I expect that to wake up soon and will probably be a major sector. Then housing for the middle income sector. I expect it to also be a major area of growth. Notwithstanding how things appear to have slowed down. But that is the area I expect to see a shift from the luxury housing markets to the middle income and markets. The demand in that sector is the one good quality but highly efficient building that has to be put together in a highly efficient manner. Because costs, while they can splash out to an extent, there’s a limit to their posts, but they are highly desired. It’s a section of the economy that knows what quality is, that knows what they want, and they see what they want. They would go for it. But they also always have a price tag for whatever they are demanding. So it’s an interesting sector of the market, but I see a lot of growth in that. But I also see the architects and the developers dueling in that market, jousting, in fact, in that market.