The Kenyan government through National Environmental Management Authority has
earmarked 4000 buildings to be demolished in Nairobi. This is because they are either built on
riparian or grabbed land. The total value of the buildings demolished so far is estimated to be
Ksh40 billion.
Considering the economic and environmental significance of these demolitions, this project
set out to establish whether reinforcement bars (rebar) from the demolished buildings can be
reused for safe structural design.
In this study, it was established that generally the rebar are safe for structural design after
straightening. Cutting of the rebar to smaller pieces and poor demolition practices embraced
by the county government account for the most devastating effect to the structural integrity of
the rebar. The project also established that most problems faced during demolitions are
similar to those in typical construction sites. Better demolition practices were discussed and
recommended with particular emphasis on move from demolition to deconstruction.
Due to lack of well-established quality control and assurances, it was recommended that rebar
from such sites should only be used for design of low rise structures. The rebar that have been
cut into smaller sizes can still be effectively used to design wall footings.