CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.0 BACKGROUND of STUDY Auto
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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.0 BACKGROUND OF STUDY Auto mobile dealership centre (Auto mall) which could be similar to a shopping mall does not exist in Enugu and in Nigeria generally. The need for such in a city whose passion to boost its image is obvious would achieve a lot in the area of fund generation, place of tourists attraction, place for relaxation and a structure to compliment the Governments effort of making Nigeria a hub in the African economy. In addition to that structure adding positive beauty, its value to the environment will go a long way of joining in the human race for green architecture. The incidence of fire disasters in buildings has become a social concern both to the building professionals and the users; but it has helped the building professionals to relentlessly seek solutions to fire disasters. Fire disasters provoke new ideas that promote the safety of the users. The need for fire safety design and construction of buildings cannot be over-emphasized. Therefore, in this project research, attention is basically and succinctly given to the aspect of the fire hazards in buildings through two basic measures – precautionary and construction measures. Precautionary measures are considered to be passive measures or in-built characteristics which are inherently safe and are effective by their presence. For example, clarity of design, good access, simple circulation, ventilation, compartmentation, the resistance of materials against spread of flame, good means of escape. Control measures are considered to be active measures: those which come into use when the fire breaks out. For example, detection of alarm systems, sprinkler systems, emergency lighting, smoke, fusible link doors and shutters. 1.0.1 Fire Hazards The hazards caused by fires are numerous. According to the National Fire protection Association (NFPA), (1994) report, the most significant cause of death in building fires is smoke, which accounted for 73% of fire-related deaths in 1990,. However, fires also can cause structural collapse of buildings, and burns cause the remainder of deaths from fire. 1 | P a g e Fire is spread by many items that can be found in a building. For example, furniture, window and wall coverings, and other interior finishes all support flame and smoke, along with wood structural members in buildings. However, building codes require that many items in a residential or commercial building resist the spread of flame and development of smoke. Those same codes require that structures within buildings (e.g. walls and floor- ceiling assemblies) resist the passage of flame and smoke for extended periods of time. Fire hazards in work place like an Auto Mall are generally categorized into four groups: (i) Ignition Sources, (ii) Materials, (iii) Building Hazards and, most importantly, (iv) Personnel Hazards. 1.0.2 FIRE FIGHTING IN GENERAL Fire fighting comprises the techniques and equipment used to extinguish fires and limit the damage caused by them. Fire fighting consists of removing one or more of the three elements essential to combustion—fuel, heat, and oxygen or of interrupting the combustion chain reaction. Safety is taken to mean the protection of the occupants of a building (and to a lesser extent their possessions) from accident. Security is taken to mean protection from willful attack these occupants, their possessions may suffer as a result of fire outbreak (Marsh, 1985, p24). Safety has to do with sheer accident, while security deals with someone‘s willful intent Fire is therefore, a borderline case for it is usually accidental in origin and is considered to be a safety subject. Fires in buildings are nearly always man-made, that is resulting from error or negligence. Despite the apparent sophistication of modern living, the risk inherent in the misuse or accident of using fuel for fire in cooking, warming and lighting has not been eliminated. In medieval times, dwellings were mostly of timber-framed construction with thatched roofs, over-hanging eave and narrow lane-ways. These all aided conflagrations. For example, the great fire of London in1666 destroyed four-fifth of the city before it was brought under control. (Sheild, T, Silcock, G. 1987). 2 | P a g e Fire could threaten the total destruction of a whole or large part of a city. Once fire had reached very large magnitude, the radiations issuing from it could ignite materials and structures about 100 meters away. At this stage, containment of the fire might no longer be possible. The most important reason why such catastrophes are now less frequent is probably the general adoption of the rule that any fire should be contained within the building of origin by the use of fire-resistant building components, by spatial separation, and by fire fighting. Design recommendations concerning spatial separation generally involve the assumption that fire fighting will reduce the risk of ignition of adjacent buildings, both by wetting them down and spraying water on the primary fire, thereby reducing the fire's level of thermal radiation. Fire-resistant construction is sometimes adequate, but often fire fighting is essential if a fire is to be contained during outbreak. 1.0.3 Brief description of Enugu (project site) Enugu popularly called the coal city state is located in the eastern heartland, capital of Enugu State, 93 km (58 mi) northeast of Onitsha. Lying at the southeastern foot of the Udi Hills, Enugu is a major coal-mining, administrative, educational, and trading center. The state shares borders with Abia State and Imo State to the south, Ebonyi State to the east, Benue State to the northeast, Kogi State to the northwest and Anambra State to the west. Enugu, the capital city of Enugu State, is approximately 2½ driving hours away from Port Harcourt, where coal shipments exited Nigeria. Enugu is also located within an hour's drive from Onitsha, one of the biggest commercial cities in Africa and 2 hours drive from Aba, another very large commercial city, both of which are trading centers in Nigeria. Manufactures include steel, tile, pottery, asbestos, cement, petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, and machinery. Enugu is the site of Enugu State University of Science and Technology (1980), the Enugu campus of the University of Nigeria (1960), and the Institute of Management and Technology (1973). The Nigerian Army‘s Airborne Division is headquartered in Enugu. The present city was founded in 1909 after coal deposits were discovered at the nearby village of Enugu Ngwo. Enugu became an administrative center after the railroad to Port Harcourt was completed in 1912. Population (1995 estimate) 308,200. The Enugu State Government in its bid to realize its aspiration of developing a world-class state capital in the city, intends to partner with the private sector for the provision of public 3 | P a g e infrastructure in all sectors of the Enugu development on the basis of Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework as applicable in the FCT. This objective is in tandem with the focus of the current administration for massive infrastructure development of Enugu as well as the recent launch of the Vision 20-2020 document whose main policy thrust is sustainable infrastructure development through the PPP initiative by the federal Government of Nigeria. A dream which they believe will make the south East the business hub in Nigeria. As a result of such dream many projects have started to erupt which are evident on ground that Enugu definitely is trying to set the standard in the south east of the country and a place Nigerians would be proud to identify with. In so doing, the city is becoming modern due to the provision of basic, modern infrastructure and buildings that are contemporary. In realizing aforementioned dream, such projects to actualize that include: The proposed new state of the art secretariat for Enugu state Polo park mall light Rail Transport massive road construction and upgrading of existing ones According to one of Nigerian daily newspapers, (THE PUNCH article Saturday, 18 Apr 2009) “A survey carried out by our correspondent in Lagos last week: shows that many Nigerians who have the financial resources to change their cars are now moving up. They are graduating from Tokunbo to brand new ones. Auto dealers have come up with different finance schemes, which enable people to pay certain percentage of the cost of new vehicles and spread the balance over a period of time, ranging from three to five years. Some even encourage buyers with a zero per cent deposit. The Executive Director, Briscoe Motors, Mr. Seyi Onajide, whose firm deals in Toyota and Ford cars, said tokunbo cars were becoming unfashionable, due to the collaborative efforts of dealers of new cars and banks. 4 | P a g e He also attributed the renewed interests of the financial institutions in auto finance to the bank recapitalisation. Many banks have created transport desks to cater for vehicle purchase loans for individuals and organisations. Banks such as Skye Bank, Access Bank, Intercontinental, UBA, Diamond Bank and First Bank use the car financing scheme as an attractive advertisement strategy. Mr. Agbolade Deinde is a beneficiary of the vehicle finance system. He had spoken to a friend about his intention to buy a tokunbo car when he was told of the scheme. ”The whole deal was sealed and delivered in two weeks,” he recalled. He, however, said that because he had to keep the promise of paying N30,000 every month, he had to scale down drastically on his monthly expenditure. Recent statistics from the nation„s auto dealers shows that over 50,000 vehicles were sold in the country last year, up from about 20,000 units of five years ago. The Toyota brand was said to have accounted for over 15,000 units.