AN APPRAISAL OF CONVERSION PROCESS OF BUILDINGSIN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS

(A CASE STUDY OF GOMBE STATE)

By

Author

Presented To

Department of Environmental Design

ABSTRACT
Generally, alteration and conversion are parts of maintenance work undertaken in order torestore the performance of a building.The study focuses on identifying problems that arose on buildings as a result of conversion process on the buildings. The aim of this study was to examine theprocedures ofbuilding conversion in some identified tertiary institutions in Gombe State byarticulatinga standard procedure of carrying out conversion of buildings, establishingthe current procedure of conversion used by the institutions and also determining compliance ofclients? methods against the established standard.In order to achieve the objectives of the study eighteen (18) converted buildings fromthree selected tertiary institutions were investigated using achecklistto assess the outcome of the process with regards to converted building. The study adopted both quantitative and qualitative approach which made use of questionnaires, checklist and interview as means of data collection. Sixty six (66)setof questionnaires were administered toconstruction professionals across the three institutions. The questionnaires solicit for information relating to professionals perception on the importance of theidentified conversion process. In addition, interview was conducted withkey professionals whom were involved in the process of conversion to ascertain theprocedures of conversion used by each institution, while a checklist was used to identify the outcome of the process of conversion.Data collected was analyzed using statistical tools: means, percentages, and standard deviation, and also results were presented in tables and bar charts. The major findings showfourteen (14) procedures were indentified and found to beeffective in carrying outconversion, with each process recording a mean of at least 3.85 which translate to being effective. The study found that 57% of theprocess used in carrying out conversion of buildings in Gombe State University do notfollowed the identified standards while 50% of procedure used in carrying out buildings conversion in Federal University Kashere were not followed the identified standards.The study also reveals that 55% of defects were found in converted buildings in both Gombe State University and Federal University Kashererelated to the procedures used in carrying out conversion. The study concludes that the procedures used in carrying out conversion by the institutions have led to the problems found on the new buildings.The study recommends that the standardized procedure established and presented in the work should be adopted by the institutions in Gombe State when carrying out conversion of buildings.