Gurugram: All stages of structural audit to be carried out at a time in highrises

GURUGRAM: The district administration has directed that all three stages of structural audit of highrise
residential societies be conducted simultaneously to make the process transparent and cut down costs and
time.
Tests to determine the structural integrity and stability of 38 societies in the city are under way in two
phases since April last year, but nothing concrete has been achieved yet.
The audit is going on in different phases and stages, making coordination and supervision difficult for
both government departments and structural audit agencies, officials said.
There have also been complaints from residents of these societies that the process is neither transparent
nor cost-effective, and that the developers and RWAs are neither sharing the mandatory documents such
as building drawings and plans, nor willing to pay for the audit.

Additional deputy commissioner Hitesh Meena has now directed that all three stages of the audit —
visual inspections, and non-destructive and destructive tests — will be carried out at the same time. This
is expected to cut down costs by around 17%, and the time taken by at least half. At present, the audit firm
first carries out visual checks and submits a report to the district administration. In case structural defects
are identified, non-destructive tests are recommended. Based on the test reports, a destructive test is
carried out.
Last month, Meena held a series of meetings with developers, RWA members, structural audit agencies
and other departments concerned to work out the process and reduce costs, after which the decision was
made on Saturday. “Under the current process, a structural audit costs around Rs 4.2 per square foot. If all
stages are carried out simultaneously, the cost will come down to around Rs 3.5 per square foot, a dip of
around 17%, which will cut down the total cost by several lakhs. By reducing the rates, not only the
expense will be reduced, but it will also make it easier for RWAs and developers to bear the expenditure,”
he added.

Officials said this will also speed up the audit, which is progressing slowly due to the huge expenditure. In
the first phase of structural audit, visual inspections of 15 societies have been completed and nondestructive tests are under way, but the process has been held up in some of them as the developers have
not paid the money for the second stage.
Similarly, in the second phase, building drawings have been sought from the developers of 23 societies,
but only 14 have submitted the papers.
Talking about the stages of a structural audit, Rohan Singh, a Delhi-based structural engineer, said: “A
visual inspection includes checks of external building structure and construction quality. A nondestructive test of concrete helps determine the compressive strength and other quality of concrete of an
existing structure without destruction. It is done through mainly two tests — rebound hammer test for
surface hardness and ultrasonic pulse velocity for strength and quality of concrete”.

If the non-destructive tests confirm defects in concrete, destructive testing is conducted, he added. “Such
tests are carried out by way of core cutting to verify the seismic performance of a new building, or the
actual performance of an existing building. After these tests are carried out, the agencies will recommend
repair work and corrective measures to be carried out by the developer and RWA,” he said.