In an unprecedented show of unity, Kenya’s leading built environment professional bodies have issued a joint statement condemning the South C building collapse and calling for an end to what they describe as entrenched impunity that has fuelled recurring construction disasters. The associations described the incident as a preventable tragedy and a collective national failure.
In their statement, the professionals openly challenged their own fraternity, saying architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, planners, project managers, surveyors and allied practitioners must take responsibility where failures in design, supervision, certification or ethical conduct are established. They noted that building collapses are rarely the result of a single mistake, but rather interconnected lapses across the entire development chain, including planning, approvals, construction methods, materials, inspections, enforcement and political interference.
The associations identified weak county development control as a major contributor to unsafe construction, urging county governments to treat planning and building control as critical public safety functions rather than revenue-generating exercises. They called for every county to be staffed with senior technical professionals and for robust inspection, quality assurance and quality control systems to be enforced. Developers were also singled out, with the statement stressing that they must be held ultimately accountable for compliance with the law and should not be allowed to evade responsibility after collapses.
Citing the long history of building failures in Kenya, the professionals lamented that investigations conducted over the years have not translated into meaningful reforms. They demanded thorough and transparent investigations into the South C collapse, public dissemination of findings, and decisive sanctions against culpable parties, including deregistration and prosecution where necessary. Proposed reforms include mandatory peer reviews at all stages of projects and the establishment of a national planning information system to standardise development control and improve transparency across counties.
The statement was jointly signed by the Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK), Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK), The Architects Alliance (TAA), Institute of Quantity Surveyors of Kenya (IQSK), Association of Construction Managers of Kenya (ACMK), Kenya Institute of Planners (KIP), Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK), Women in Real Estate (WIRE), Interior Designers’ Association of Kenya (IDAK), Town and County Planners Association of Kenya (TCPAK) and Project Management Institute Kenya (PMIK), who pledged to work with government and regulators to restore integrity, safety and public trust in Kenya’s built environment.
