Houses Built On Sandy Ground Cannot Stand ~ Where Is Our Building Code?

A new DLP administration will commit to providing incentives to new and existing small and medium size players to come into the sector. We will honour a previous commitment to ensure that at least 40% of all government’s procurement requests for goods and services are reserved for sourcing from small and medium size enterprises.

Source: DLP Manifesto 2008

BU have blogged about the lack of regulated building standards being applied in the building sector in Barbados. Our concern has been heightened against the back drop of a construction sector which has been on the boil for almost a decade, and it shows no immediate signs of significantly slowing down. There is a fear among many Barbadians that the building stock of Barbados maybe vulnerable. We do not mean to pick on our local engineers, the Barbados Association of Professional Engineers (BAPE) et al, but why does the Barbadian public have to rely on their personal ethics alone when engaging their services? In the absence of an enforceable building code that is how we have to sum up the current state of affairs.

The Britton’s Hill incident reminded us that all is not well with the construction methodology at work in Barbados. So far we have heard a lot of hot air to fill a Richard Branson air ballon from many of the stakeholders in the industry. Will we ever know what happened to trigger the Britton’s Hill mess? Not only do we have a building sector operating with a DRAFT building code, but a Town Planning Unit that readily admits it is ill-equipped to provide effective oversight to the industry. We remember the song and dance made during the early stage of the construction of the Four Season project currently being built by businessmen Michael Pemberton et al.

Weren’t there some questions being asked about the quality of the steel being used in the construction of the hotel, said to be imported from China?

It was interesting to read about the Trinidad and Tobago government making the decision last week to review all projects constructed by the Chinese in the aftermath of the massive earthquake which occurred in China. The T&T authorities were quick to point out though that the the public should not jump to conclusions about the review. The BU household is curious why Barbados is always so slow to react in these kinds of situations. It is true that many buildings in Barbados have been constructed by the Chinese over the last twenty years. Should the Barbados government not be asking the same questions as its Trinadad counterpart? Is it too much to expect that the Barbados media should be highlighting this matter? Of interest to Barbadians should that Trinidad and Tobago enforces a building code which is law. We know the answers, do you!

Another hurricane season is approaching our region, and every year around this time, the structural integrity of our buildings is the subject of many question questions. Some of us have become more concerned that Barbados suffered a significant earthquake back in November 2007.

Our government is charged to protect its citizens. Barbados has been operating with a DRAFT Building Code for over a decade, this can only be considered gross negligence. We expect to hear the murmur level of the BAPE to increase significantly in the days and weeks ahead. Their advice was ignored over the ABC Flyover project. They have been ignored over the need to legislate a building code over the years.

Why is it our engineer friends are being treated and relegated to B Class professionals in Barbados? Why are our insurance companies so silent. Is it a case of it can’t happen in God’s country?