Problems Associated with Elevators in High-Rise Commercial Buildings in North-Western State Capitals of Nigeria

Abstract

The development of high-rise buildings in Nigeria has been experiencing drawbacks. The retarding growth translates to the very fewness of high-rise buildings in existence in Nigerian cities just as even most of the few in existence are poorly utilized due to some persistent factors. A current trend in modern cities all over the world is the development of high-rise buildings mainly to overcome the challenges of urban over population, for optimal use of scarce land resources, as status symbol, as tourist attractions and for beautiful skylines. From the existing literature, only few research were conducted in this very important aspect of real estate profession. The data used in this research was obtained through physical inspection and careful observations of the elevators (lifts) in some selected high-rise commercial buildings within the area of study.  Samples of 2500 tenants, 25 Property Management Companies and 70 visitors or clients were selected. The sampling procedure used includes; purposive sampling method in the selection of the experienced property managers, and random sampling technique in selecting the tenants. Part of the result shows that about 63% of the elevators studied have one problem or the other which rendered it not convenient for the passenger’s use. It was recommended that all elevators’ problems should be properly and effectively attended to as soon as the sign of failure is notice before it causes further damages that will increase costs. There is need for the property managers to consider periodic inspection and system diagnosis of the elevators by professionals to verify it conditions and advice on the way forward. It was concluded that,  with adequate maintenance policy, adhering to the manufacturer’s instructions, use of skilled and highly trained manpower in the maintenance of elevators and by ensuring only standard and approved spare parts are used, majority of the problems hindering effective use of elevators in high-rise commercial buildings in Nigeria will be overcome.

Keywords: Commercial Buildings, Elevator, High-rise Buildings, Lift and Multi-tenanted Properties,