ENSIBUM is short for Enugu-South International Building Materials Market. It is an on-going project in the Ugwuaji area of Enugu state, Nigeria. The site located along Enugu-Porthacourt Expressway spreads horizontally covering an area of about 26 hectares of land. The ultra-modern market was designed by Geometrix Consultants & builders ltd. a leading indigenous Architecture Consortium. (my present employers).
A more detailed technical report on the ENSIBUM PROJECT is available here!
A more detailed technical report on the ENSIBUM PROJECT is available here!
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| Enugu-South International Building Materials Market |
.jpg "Enugu South INternational Building materials market Ugwuaji")
The market design features series of shop clusters laid out in a simple linear form to differentiate one trade from another while normalizing the otherwise polygonal site shape. It features over 4,000 single units of lockable shops. 80 Nos. of 60sq.m/unit warehouse, over 700 units of semi-open stalls for timber and reinforcements, well linked internal roads, an admin building, a clinic, a police post, a fire station and a strip of commercial banks.
The project developer is Mac-Donalds manufacturing and industries. The Official banker is UBA plc. and I am the Resident Architect here. This page contains my personal diary entries as the project unfolds. I invite you to indulge........................................................................................................................................................................
PROJECT TIMELINE
Project commenced: August 2013
Design and Consultancy services offered by Geometrix
Construction commenced: November 2013
Foundation laying ceremony held on site with local government chairman and other top state dignitaries in attendance on 2-01-14.
Expected completion date: NA
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A DAY AT WORK WITH THE PRINCIPAL
by Kosi Emmanuel Chukwujindu
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| Day at Work with Principal |
When you work with an Architectural firm, as big as Geometrix, You hardly get to speak with the Boss, let alone ride in his vehicle all day. Infact most of the time you just do what your department head directs and report to him in the office, via email or by phone.
But what happens when you are 'the Geometrix' in a different state. representing all the company holds dear over there and reporting to no other person but the principal. This is how it has been with me since I resumed work as the Resident Architect in Enugu state.
Today is thursday, 23-01-14. The principal Architect of Geometrix, Arc. Jude Uche is in town. and he is in a hurry to the next state, Abia. He has called me and asked me to meet him at his hotel after printing some documents he sent to my mail. I did this. when I met him. He informed me of a new job which has been advertised by the Abia state government and which he is looking to tender for. From the look of things he was really interested in getting that job. he asked me to type a letter requesting Access bank nig. plc(our official bankers) to issue a reference letter to the Abia state government on our behalf. I did and after effecting all the corrections, we drove to the bank together. We were asked to come back after some time for the letter.
Then ....
Today is Thursday, 29 - 01-15 .
I have just returned from the usual day work. It was like every other day, busy from the eye opening moment to the dawning of day. Today was spectacular, it was the day I had a sad encounter with the site foreman. He had been acting up lately. He believes he's not getting a fair share of the imaginary 'loot'. HE also believes just because he's older than I am, he should have been my Boss. I stand my ground and always re - inforce to him that he anwers to me.
I have just returned from the usual day work. It was like every other day, busy from the eye opening moment to the dawning of day. Today was spectacular, it was the day I had a sad encounter with the site foreman. He had been acting up lately. He believes he's not getting a fair share of the imaginary 'loot'. HE also believes just because he's older than I am, he should have been my Boss. I stand my ground and always re - inforce to him that he anwers to me.
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| Filling of Shallow offices |
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| Roofing underway |
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| second line setting out underway |
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| first line Blockwork underway |
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| Arc. Olisa, Project Supervisor, GEometrix |
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| first line setting out underway |
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| Day at work with Supervisor |
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| Day at work with Site foreman |
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| second line foundation underway |
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| first line lintel level |
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| lock up shop plastering |
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| Roofing underway |
SAT. 21-02-15
CONFLICT RESOLUTION ON SITE
Today there was a fight at the site. An Igbo worker fell out with an Hausa worker. The Igbo worker was working on the site for the first time after a long while. He was brought in by the site foreman. He was asked to construct the form work for one roof beam in the fourth line because our resident carpenter was absent on that day. The Hausa worker was a mason; one of our most loyal. He would do whatever he was asked to do with smiles and never complained about anything other than wage related issues.
He was rounding off his block work, when the counting supervisor came to record his work. The Ibo man who had finished his roof-beam, and so was feeling good about himself came over and joined in counting the blocks. Jos, as the Hausa guy was popularly called, asked him to please not count his blocks as it was not his duty. He had no right to count blocks, there was a designated supervisor who handled that. The Ibo man, failed to listen and in fact insisted on doing the same. This led to a rough exchange of abuses, and ignited a bloody fight between the two.
Attempts to separate these two early, failed. The result was a lot of emotional hurt, physical damages and a generally foul air in the site. Now we have a no - fighting policy which we have tried to adhere to strictly. This was no exception. The protagonist had to be brought to book. So I froze his day wage, and banned him from any other works on the site.
He Unfortunately was one of those people who were fundamentally tribalist in their belief, and so he chose to understand this judgement in the light of : "Hausa man got his day wage, Ibo man got victimized".
too bad!
28-03-15
MAKING OF THE ENTRANCE GATE (picture slide)
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| 1,800mm x 1,800mm column base casted, reinforcement starter bars in place |
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| 650mm x 650mm wooden form work being installed |
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| steel reinforcement bars erected and supported with bamboo stakes pending installation of form-work |
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| wooden form-work completed plummed and stabilised; with bamboo scaffolding for vertical climbing |
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| Reinforcement bars installed for the second half of the gate columns |
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| wooden form-work completed for casting of the second half of gate column |
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| wooden ladder completed to provide access for casting at 6m high |
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| At 6m high, the view is this! |
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| Drainage construction underway. |
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| Entrance gate beam has been cast, allowed to cure beforeplastering and painting |
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| Drain construction underway |
Have you handled a project of this scale before? What major challenges did you face? Use the comment form below to share your experiences.
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APPLICATION FOR PRE-QUALIFICATION AS A CONTRACTOR IN ENUGU STATE
by Kosi Emmanuel Chukwujindu
A week later, the Enugu state government also advertised some construction projects and invited contractors to apply for pre-qualification. I was to process the whole application documents on behalf of Geometrix and Maldini our sister company.
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