The aim of this study was to investigate the current condition of existing public apartment buildings in Vietnam. In the old apartment buildings, problems included structural failure, aging, impact of outdoor environment, poor indoor and outdoor living conditions, and lack of service facilities. In the newly-built high-rise buildings, poor outdoor living conditions, lacking of natural lighting, polluted air, inconvenience access and high level of traffic noise are observed due to high density of buildings constructed in a land area. In addition, there are high risk at fire and difficulties in firefighting and emergency evacuation where hundreds of residential buildings were found not to comply with fire safety standards. Improvements are recommended at the end of this research for minimizing, even totally eliminating current shortcomings of existing public apartment buildings. Throughout the study, relevant parties and authorities enable to fully understand quality conditions of existing condominium buildings and to propose proper corrective actions
2. Dinh Tuan Hai
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urban immigrants, state and private property developers have developed a series of new urban
areas with high-rise apartment buildings. These are significantly better living areas than those
built between 1960s and 1980s because of larger areas, with elevators, more amenities, and
meeting expectations of living residents (Hai, 2007). Although having a movement to live in
new houses with better amenities and conditions, most of existing public apartment buildings
are in poor conditions and do not meet the minimum living requirements. There has been a
great deal of reflections, complaints and comments on the quality of these existing public
apartments in mass media and in scientific researches.
Many researchers and practitioners all around the world have carried out researches on the
reality of condominium buildings in many aspects, especially their failure problems. In general,
a problematic or damaged building is not the type that has not met the minimum requirements
of the people living in such areas as poor quality, lack of facilities, construction errors, lack of
gas and light, narrow area, water absorption and subsidence (VNA, 2014). These may come
from the construction process, but may also occur during the use of buildings with poor
maintenance (Dan and Shiozaki, 2011). Although these malfunctions rarely lead to the collapse
of apartment buildings, it is annoying to the people and consequently reduces the quality of
their lives (IBST, 2018).
In order to support for building refurbishment, a number of key research efforts have been
identified (Gohardani and Björk, 2012), where the focus on energy in the building environment
were suggested for further investigation. Facilitating an enhanced deployment of renewable
energy technologies within the residential sector such as the Greener Homes Scheme
established by the Irish Government in 2006, in which property types and ages were considered
in offering the support grants (Dinh et al., 2015; Kennedy et al., 2016). Eco‐label is another
innovative way for green or sustainable housing that has been promoted by governments
commonly use legislation or subsidies. This provision can become autonomous without any
state intervention if the consumers are willing to pay more for housing of better environmental
performance (Yau, 2012).
In this paper, the authors focus mainly on the existing public apartment buildings built
between 1960s and 1990s, funded and managed by local and central governments. In order to
find out how existing malfunctioning problems of existing condominium buildings were, the
authors conducted a review and analysed their situations and proposed some measures to limit
negative effects on daily life of local occupants. The study also paid some attention to the
newly-built high-rise apartment buildings to examine if their indoor and outdoor living
conditions have been successfully transited to green or sustainable housing model and if there
are any remaining issues.
2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The authors began the study with the preparation of a questionnaire to collect information from
residents on the quality and apparent damages of condominium buildings in Vietnam. Even
though people gave a lot of ideas and suggestions about their living conditions, only main
issues and multiple occurrences have been selected for further visual investigation and in-depth
analysis. Visual inspection of physical components and service conditions of over 200 existing
public apartment buildings in Vietnam was also conducted by the authors to confirm the
accuracy of the information obtained from the individual interviews.
The information obtained from interview processes and visual surveys were collected for
analysis. The authors classified malfunctions according to what their appearances were and
how their affected. A scale is set from 0 to 100 points, broken down into five levels: 0-12.5,
12.6-37.5, 37.6-62.5, 62.6-87.5 and 87.6-100. These levels, if classified by their appearance in
3. Common Problems of Existing Public Apartment Buildings in Vietnam
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apartment buildings, are “very few”, “few”, “medium”, “often”, and “very often”. Similarly,
the degree of their influence on the quality of apartments will be “not impact”, “less impact”,
“moderate”, “impact” and “serious impact”. Based on the information obtained during
interviews with people and results of the assessment on a scale basis, the study draws
conclusions about the quality and defects of the apartment buildings at Vietnam. Some
recommendations to improve the quality were also proposed at the end of this study.
3. OVERALL QUALITY OF EXISTING CONDOMINIUM BUILDINGS
IN VIETNAM
The survey data on Figure 1 shows that existing public apartment buildings in Vietnam are
largely irresponsive to expectations and demands of quality and services. There is a high
percentage of people living in apartments expressed their concerns for quality and living
conditions, as evidenced by data collected from both direct and Internet surveys. Specifically,
40.28% and 32.70% of people interviewed directly confirmed that the quality of their buildings
was "poor" and "very poor". Similar results were observed in Internet surveys with a percentage
of 40.79% and 50.03% respectively. This fact has been mentioned in many other studies on the
quality and living conditions of public apartment buildings in Vietnam. Table 1 summarizes
surveys and analyses with the conclusion that 30% of the total "collective damage" in terms of
quality and 38% "aspirations and demands of the people" on the ability to serve.
Figure 1 Evaluation of Overall Quality for Existing Condominium Buildings in Vietnam
Table 1 Evaluate Quality and Serviceability of Existing Public Apartments in Vietnam
Overall evaluation of existing apartment buildings Percentage Total
Quality conditions
There is no failure at all 10%
100%There are failures but at moderate level 60%
There are failures but at serious level 30%
Serviceability conditions
Total satisfaction of people’s expectations and
requirements
11%
100%Satisfaction of people’s expectations and requirements 51%
Not satisfaction of people’s expectations and
requirements
38%
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4. COMMON DEFECTS ON OLD PUBLIC APARTMENT BUILDINGS
IN VIETNAM
Practically, there are many complaints about the poor quality of used materials and
unsatisfactory service on existing public apartment buildings in Vietnam. This is especially
serious with buildings built during the 1960-1980 period. These problems are generally caused
by a number of factors such as time-related degradation, environmental impact, maintenance,
ineffective and ineffective maintenance, and other causes. In the process of interviewing people
and experimenting with visual inspection, authors discovered many problems. Some serious
failures and emergencies are listed below.
Figure 2 Evidences on Defects of Building Structures
Table 2 Defects occurred on structures of existing public apartment buildings
Structural
defects
Occurrence
degree
Impact
degree
Main causes
Steel corrosion
Very often
(85%
surveys)
Moderate
impact on
overall quality
Adverse climate due to high humidity, quick
temperature changes on the day, poor quality
of concrete, poor quality of reinforcement
steel bars, insufficient thickness of concrete
cover
Cracks
Often
(60%
surveys)
Moderate
impact on
overall quality
Temperature changes, external vibrations and
transportations, excessive loads, poor design
Local settlements
Medium
(40%
surveys)
Serious
impact on
overall quality
Ground complexity, reducing of ground water
tables, poor quality of foundation
construction, poor investigation of soil
characteristics
Other defects
such as broken,
plaster removal,
deformation,
wrapping, ...
Medium
(40%
surveys)
Less impact
on overall
quality
Broken on concrete and masonry, poor
construction quality, low quality of
construction materials, people ‘s
negligence, ...
4.1. Failures on Building Structures
Under combined effects of many factors such as adverse environment, excessive loads,
unsuitable design, poor construction quality and lack of maintenance, the structural systems of
most of existing apartment buildings are damaged. Some typical damages found from visual
inspections are cracks, metal corrosion, local settlement of foundations, etc. Although they
accumulate over time and are less likely to cause collapse of whole buildings, some of their
Steel
corrosi
on
Broken Cracks on walls and slabs
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consequences have been confirmed the phenomenon of infiltration, stagnation and insecurity
for the people. Some examples are given in Figure 2 and detailed in Table 2.
4.2. Time Aging
Problems caused by aging over time are shown in Figure 3. It can be seen that there are many
older buildings in Vietnam with a service life of more than 50 years. In addition, the pre-mature
aging problems are also common, due to the impact of extreme weather and the microorganism
such as mould and moss. The aging of buildings affects people’s living conditions, appearing
some damages such as wetting walls and roofs, condensed water, condensed water vapour and
humidity. Causes of pre-mature aging problems come from many different perspectives and
are described in Table 3.
Figure 3 Signals of aging problems occurred on many existing condominium buildings
Table 3 Summary on aging problems occurred on many existing condominium buildings in Vietnam
Aging problems
Occurrenc
e degree
Impact degree Main causes
Old buildings with their
ages of 50 years or
longer.
Often
(55%
surveys)
Serious impact,
cause dilemmas
for people
Adverse climate with
temperature changes,
bacteria, sunlight, moisture,
rains, ...
Lacking preventive
maintenance in order to clean
and clear dusts covered on
building structures
There are too many old
buildings built between
under used
Unsuitable and not durable
materials to resist again
adverse climate
Local damages such as
corrosion, breaking,
cracks, ... are not repaired on
time
Pre-mature aging signals
due to fungus, moss and
termites, ....
Very often
(90%
surveys)
Moderate
impact on
external
surfaces of
buildings
Physical defects such as
corrosion, breaking and
cracks.
Often
(70%
surveys)
Serious impact
on building
quality
Functional defects such
as rain leakages, water
stagnation, steam
accumulation and pipe
broken
Often
(60%
surveys)
Moderate
impact on
people ‘s living
conditions
4.3. Negative Impacts from Outdoor Environment
Vietnam is located in a humid tropical climate region, which often negatively impacts building
structures. While many public apartment buildings have been built for long time, negative
impacts from the surrounding environment are evident. A survey of the status of existing
apartment buildings clearly identifies these aspects (Figure 4) as waterlogging, humidity and
noises inside old apartment buildings.
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Figure 4 Existing condominium buildings under impacts of surrounding environment
Table 4 Impacts of surrounding environment on existing buildings
Indoor
environment
Occurre
nce
degree
Impact degree Main causes
External
damps
Often
(70-
100%
surveys)
Serious impact
(Cause metal problems
for building residents)
Noise-insulated materials and
designs have not been used.
Traffic induced acoustic
penetrate into indoor spaces.
Defects related
to damps and
steam
Very
often
(80-
100%
surveys)
Moderate impact
(Cause structural
damages, insects
occurred and adverse
impacts on building
residents)
Lack of damping proof courses
on footing structures.
High underground water levels.
Presence of intensive moisture
climate.
Absence of air-conditioning
system.
Rain leakages
and water
stagnation
from ground
Often
(40-
100%
surveys)
Moderate impact
(Increase indoor
moisture and cause
dilemmas for building
residents)
Absence of water proofing
systems, or these being poorly
fitted.
Cracks allow water penetrating
through concrete and masonry.
4.4. Low Indoor Living Quality
The most important goal of public apartment buildings is to provide comfortable living spaces
for people with different aspects such as layout, clean water supply, electricity system, and
moving. In Vietnam, however, many existing apartments are not targeted because they serve
the poor and do not emphasize on comfortable living conditions, but pay attention to having a
dark living space. The first face-to-face problem is that the living area is very narrow. During
the study, the author found that there are many apartments for 4-6 people living in but their
areas are only about 18-24m2
, or average only 5m2
per person. This figure is confirmed to be
very low compared to the general area of 10m2
in Vietnam and 30m2
in the world. Due to the
small area, it is difficult to divide apartments into independent rooms, leading to the fact that
one or more generations of grandparents, parents and descendants have to live together in the
same living rooms, bedrooms and dining rooms. Figure 5 shows a typical apartment layout of
existing buildings those built between 1960-1980. Table 5 details the low quality of life in
residential buildings in Vietnam.
Lack of noise-proof
solutions
Vapor occurring
insides
Water leakage and stagnation
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Figure 5 General layout of typical public apartment buildings built between 1960s – 1980s
Table 5 Details on low living conditions on existing apartment building in Vietnam
Low living
conditions
Occurrenc
e degree
Impact degree Main causes
Narrow rooms,
average 5m2
per
person.
Very often
(70-90%
surveys).
Moderate impact
(Create
psychological
problems for
occupiers).
Initial purposes of
condominium buildings were
serving poor people so high
indoor living standards were
not targeted
Unsuitable room
layouts with very
small serviced spaces
to cause less facilities
for bathing, cooking,
corridors, ...
Very often
(70-100%
surveys).
Serious impact
(Users are in
difficult
approaching
auxiliary
systems).
Building designs not satisfy
for modern living
requirements of people.
Increase number of people
living inside rooms and
buildings.
Unsuitable room
layouts cause traffic
limitation due to
sloping staircases,
narrow corridors, ...
Often
(50-80%
surveys).
Moderate impact
(Prevent traffic
in/out rooms and
buildings)
Poor maintenance causes
decreasing quality of
auxiliary systems, defects and
malfunctions.
Quality decreasing on
auxiliary systems
(water supply,
plumbing and
electrical cables).
Very often
(80-100%
surveys).
Serious
impact(Prevent
people using
water, electricity
and other
auxiliary
systems).
Aging and quality decreasing
of condominium buildings in
terms of physical and
functional conditions.
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4.5. Lack of Service Facilities
The lack of ancillary equipment is a clear thing now with the old condominium in Vietnam.
Figure 6 shows the use alternative PVC pipes 100-150mm diameter for malfunction water
supply system. The main cause may be that the original designs do not have these auxiliary
devices, because the living conditions and the preceding criteria are not mandatory. On the
other hand, over time, many auxiliary equipment has been damaged or lost as summarised in
Table 6 so it is not available for the life of the old apartment buildings.
Figure 6 Use alternative PVC pipes 100-150mm diameter for malfunction water supply system
Table 6 Lacking of auxiliary facilities on existing condominium buildings
Lack of auxiliary
facilities
Occurrence
degree
Impact degree Main causes
Unavailability of fire
alarms and detectors.
Very often
(95%
surveys).
Serious impact
(Late in early detecting
fires and informing
indoor people).
Auxiliary facilities are either
not much emphasized or not
mentioning on design
standards at initial stages.
Improper working
condition of fire-
distinguishers and exist-
staircases.
Often
(60-8%
surveys).
Serious impact (Prevent
people fighting against
fire and escaping from
buildings).
Lack of maintenance on
existing auxiliary facilities.
Improper layouts of existing
condominiums and their
individual apartments.
Accessing directions are
poorly constructed or not
properly functioned.
Often
(70-90%
surveys).
Moderate impact
(Causes problem of
accessing in/out
buildings).
People have no awareness
for the importance of
auxiliary facilities.
Unavailability of parking
spaces for personal
motorcycles and cars.
Average
(40-60%
surveys).
Moderate impact
(Create dilemmas for
occupied residents).
Change of economics and
living levels.
5. COMMON PROBLEMS OF NEWLY BUILT APARTMENT
BUILDINGS IN VIETNAM
5.1. Poor Outdoor Living Conditions
Good indoor living conditions are an important indicator of quality, with factors such as natural
lighting and non-polluted air quality. Actual visual investigations confirmed poor living
conditions and lack of facilities in existing public apartment buildings in Vietnam. There are
many buildings that are built near each other in the range of 20-50m, while their heights are
over 50m. This fact causes buildings to lack natural light and clean air as they are blocked by
external obstructions. At the same time, ventilation and lighting should use artificial measures.
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This means energy consumption increasing significantly to maintain a quality light and
ventilation minimum for residents living inside. The cause of this problem comes from the fact
that property investors apply the land use rate too high, with construction density of about 60-
80% for the purpose of obtaining highest profits. As a result, auxiliary areas, gardens and
openings have been significantly reduced. Figures 7 and Table 8 give a clear illustration of this
problem.
Figure 7 Excessive concentration of apartment buildings insides of new cities
Table 7 Details of poor indoor living conditions on apartment buildings in Vietnam
Poor indoor
living conditions
Occurance
degree
Impact
degree
Main causes
Lack of natural
light for indoor
living spaces of
building.
Often
(80%
surveys)
Serious impact
(Increase power
consumption for
artificial lighting)
High land-using rates of 60-80%
cause reduction of outdoor airy
spaces.
Owners reduce maximum of
airy areas and landscaping.
Use less windows and openings
on buildings’ external walls.
Natural and artificial ventilation
systems are not yet good as
requirements.
Room layouts are not suitable to
cause stagnating polluted air
inside.
Lack of fresh air
for breathe.
Very often
(90%
surveys)
Moderate impact
(Create
uncomfortable
living conditions)
Polluted air
contained high
levels of
CO,NO2, SO2và
VOC.
Medium
(50%
surveys)
Serious impact
(Cause respiratory
and pulmonary
diseases)
Most newly-built apartment buildings exhibit low level of outdoor safety and comfort,
where they were built very close to streets and traffic, as typically shown in Figure 8. The
access to/from these building are consequently inconvenient and negatively influences in the
local traffic. The residents in these buildings have to suffer from traffic noise and pollution.
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Figure 8 Access and safety issues due to apartment buildings close to streets
Table 8 Typical fire accidents in apartment buildings in Hanoi and Hochiminh Cities
Location Time Damage Severity
Building CT5, Xa La
Urban Area, Hanoi
Septemb
er 2015
Hundreds of residents were forced to
evacuate. Furniture was damaged.
Medium
HH4 in Linh Dam
Urban Area, Hanoi
Septemb
er 2015
Hundreds of residents were forced to
evacuate. Furniture was damaged.
Medium
34-storey CT4
buildings in Xa La
Urban Area, Hanoi
October
2015
Damaging two parking levels on an area of
1,533sq.m. 200 motorbikes, 45 bicycles,
and one car were burnt
High
15-17 Ngoc Khanh
Street, Ba Dinh
district, Hanoi
October
2015
200 apartments had to live with the risk of
fire because the apartment still lacks a
completed fire prevention system, though
the building opened 10 years ago.
Medium
Golden Westlake
apartment complex,
151 ThuyKhe street,
Tay Ho district,
Hanoi
25
Decembe
r2015
A fire broke out on the top floor (25th
floor) and spread quickly. Seven fire
engines were mobilised, however, the
height of the building made it difficult to
extinguish the fire.
Medium
Carina Plaza, District
8, HCM City
March
2018
13 people were killed.
Very
high
Fodacon building,
Tran Phu street,
Hadong district,
Hanoi
25 May
2018
Hundreds of residents were forced to
evacuate. All furniture in Apartment 1806
were burnt after the fire. Serious traffic
congestion. Windows cracked under the
heat of the fire and fell on a person who
had to be taken to hospital.
High
5.2. High Risk at Fire and Difficulties in Fire Fighting and Emergency
Evacuation
The Hanoi city’s Department of Fire Prevention and Fighting published a report in May
2017and stated that 79 high-rise apartment buildings failed to meet fire safety regulations in
Hanoi, 64 of which had not passed fire safety tests but were already operational, while one
building was under construction without its design passing a fire safety assessment.
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An interdisciplinary team of the Vietnam Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of
Construction recently carried out a study across seven localities, including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh
(HCM) City, Da Nang and provinces of Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Khanh Hoa and Ba Ria-Vung
Tau(VOV, 2018) [5]. The investigation concluded that than 4,100 high-rise buildings in
Vietnam are at high risk of fire. Hundreds of residential buildings in Hanoi and HCM City were
found not to comply with fire safety standards, which came into operation without any
evaluation of the performance of fire detection and suppression systems. Major incompliances
to fire safety include (i) fire-resistant doors were not equipped with fire exit hardware, (ii)
technical rooms or the fire doors of these were not automatically close, (iii) automatic fire alarm
systems at other buildings were not operating with manual pull stations or fire detectors, and
(iv) fire detectors are not set up at each floor’s hall and technical room. Other safety issues
observed were (vi) internal roads were not accessible to fire trucks, and (vii) automatic fire
fighting water pumps in the basements did not operate even when activated, and (viii) some
plumbing hoses do not have supply lines. A number of fire accidents have consequently
occurred with considerable damages, where the typical cases are listed in Table 8
6. CONCLUSION
This paper analyses the quality of existing condominium buildings in Vietnam, together with
the possible causes of negative impacts. The author concludes that there are many structural
defects as well as utility features that have had a negative impact on the people living inside
the apartments. In order to obtain more comprehensive and detailed conclusions, the author
proposes that the relevant authorities conduct comprehensive investigations into the quality of
condominium buildings. The results will be one of the important data that will help the
government and its stakeholders to develop appropriate measures to improve the quality and
living conditions of people. This also highlights key issues for sustainable refurbishment of old
apartment buildings, which include necessity of directing future refurbishment towards energy
conservation. Eco – model for sustainable indoor and outdoor conditions is another scope for
refurbishment of existing buildings and planning, design and construction of new buildings.
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