July 20, 2017 – Basseterre; St. Kitts: Local contractors and engineers in St. Kitts-Nevis have expressed high praise for the ongoing Revised OECS Building Code project which seeks to increase resilience of the built environment and adequately mitigate risks to natural hazards.
Veteran construction engineer Peter Jenkins of Jenkins Limited is of the view that the Revised OECS Building Code is critically important to the built environment of St. Kitts-Nevis and the OECS sub-region in terms of the regulation of building standards.
“Having practiced in the construction/engineering sector since 1980, I can say with some degree of certainty that it is important that the built environment in St. Kitts and Nevis, the OECS, and the Caribbean be regulated. This is important from a development standpoint. Persons who are bringing development to the region must be able to be confident that there are a set of standards to which the sector is regulated, so that there are standards for all aspects of design, all aspects of construction, all aspects of maintenance. We hear, very often, of incidents all over the world where there are collapses, during construction, after construction, and these are in developed sectors of the world. We hear of collapses in China, in the United States, in Canada, all over the world. And so we have to give the assurance that the standards to which we construct are of such that we can basically guarantee some degree of safety, said Jenkins”.
Jenkins stated that the revision process will create stakeholder buy-in and give assurance of the quality of the building process in the OECS.
“The Code, as a uniform building code of the OECS, is critical. It gives more status and weight to the integrity of the process that we went through to determine the Code itself. And so, it is important that we continue this process towards the point where we actually have a revised code that all of us would be stakeholders to, would have bought into the process and agreed upon the final document so that the population of the OECS and those coming in can be assured of the quality of the building process in the region,” Jenkins added.
Jenkins also spoke to the importance of the Revised OECS Building Code to the region in light of increased threats from climate change.
“We have to look at flooding. All of these things are critical and will be addressed in the Code and it is important that we get it right so that we can provide some degree of protection to developers. Persons will be occupying such buildings in the future and so this is very important. Climate change has brought additional emphasis and impetus to us in terms of getting this document prepared,” said Jenkins.
Anthony Evelyn, Executive Director of the St. Kitts-Nevis Contractors Association, believes that the Revised Code is important for saving life and property and addressing deficiencies in the present system.
“It is important because it will save life and property. … After the hurricane passed over the island, there are some short changes taking place in the industry still. There are certain measurements required for concrete and mortar and instead of using measurements they are still using shovels; shovels of sand, shovels of stone and so the mix becomes not regular and then you find buildings start cracking. These are some of the measures you want government to address within the construction industry of St. Kitts and Nevis,” he opined.
Meanwhile, Mrs Fonsonia O’Garro-Lewis, partner and architect in the firm Brisbane O’Garro Alvaranga, explained that the Revised OECS Building Code will enhance the quality of standard of living in St. Kitts-Nevis.
“I think that revising the Building Code plays a critical role in how the country develops and to a large extent our infrastructural development and architecture, piers and drainage in Basseterre and all around the island. I think it helps to enhance the quality of, and generally, our standard living here in St. Kitts because in this day and age we have to design for seismic activity for our part of the world. We have to design for hurricane and windows and pressures against buildings and as we all know from an environmental standpoint they [are] coming stronger and a lot faster. So our buildings, our structures, have to withstand those blows and the Building Code is what dictates the requirements for that type of construction and maintaining, generally, the safety of our people,” she stated.
O’Garro-Lewis believes that the revised Code will adequately respond to new changes in the built environment and enhance the safety and security of persons who occupy those building structures.
“One of the things you might notice as well, our buildings are getting taller. Something we all have to get used to because at one point in time the Building Code spoke to buildings that were two-storied and three-storied. It never really went beyond that but then that ties in to our Building Code and the development of the Code and the revamping of the Code, it lends itself to high-rise buildings on St. Kitts. Who would have thought that we would have gotten to that point? I think that revamping the Code, developing the Code some more, make ensuring that we cover all the bases from a safety and security standpoint for persons utilizing those buildings. I think that it is a good thing,” O’Garro-Lewis stated.
The Revised OECS Building Code project is a collaboration between the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA), the European Union and the OECS Commission. The OECS Commission has recognised that the administrative approach to Code implementation and enforcement should reflect the varying needs and capacities of Member States in terms of their different legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks for building control. A stakeholders meeting was held in March of this year to review issues related to areas of compliance, legislation, and contractor liability.
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