Dominica building code revised

A scene in Dominica after Hurricane Maria

Roseau, Dominica, December 13, 2017– The OECS/GCCA iLAND Resilience Project is presenting Dominica with recommendations for provisions to be included in the building code.

The recommendations form part of an ongoing region-wide building code consultation, in an effort to encourage people in the construction industry to understand and adhere to the necessary building regulations.

Consultant Engineer to the iLAND Resilience Project, Alison King-Joseph, is also asking property owners to ensure that their builders comply with the building regulations, to ensure the safety of themselves and properties.

Consultant Engineer to the iLAND Resilience Project, Alison King-Joseph

“The first thing you do when you want to develop a piece of land for building is understanding what are the vulnerabilities of that site and whether it is appropriate for building or not. If it is you also need to know what are the requirements to build on that property, to withstand the hazards that it may be exposed to. We are building an awareness for persons who want to develop, so that they can good guidance on the vulnerabilities of the locations where they are building and that they are building suited to purpose,” Joseph explains

Just over two months ago Dominica was devastated by a category five Hurricane Maria. To this day, the island is still trying to recover and literally pick up the pieces. Building owners will soon be recouping insurance funds and hopefully, begin to rebuild.

However, officials state, that the island does not have enough resources to monitor the building activities.

The Chief Physical Planner of Dominica, Kelvin Rolle, is appealing to builders and property owners, to ensure that the building code is followed and necessary quality checks are conducted.

Chief Physical Planner, Kelvin Rolle

He is asking that special attention be given to the construction of roofs.

“We also have to pay special to where people build in River Valleys. There are a number of homes and small villages located in the river valleys and these valleys received tremendous destruction. Nearly the entire watershed and trees came down. It was massive destruction in these communities and villages,” recalls Rolle

Rolle informs that residents close to rivers may have to be relocated because of effects from adverse weather conditions.

He says that the river valleys should not be abandoned but protected through climate change resilience interventions.

The Chief Physical Planner is, therefore, suggesting that new development plans be created for areas that were totally destroyed during this Hurricane season.

 

 

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31 Comments

  1. BJ
    January 14, 2019

    Everyone has their opinion about what is right or better but the main thing we need to realize is that storms are getting more powerful as the years go by. Dominica should not be any different from any country that has a mandatory building code. Not only should that code be enforced it should be mandatory. Every house,home,building should not be allowed to be built without that provision and there should be some one to inspect the construction and make sure it is done right. People who want to skip corners should be fined. Which is more important surviving a hurricane with your life,home family intact or pointing fingers.
    It’s time to wake up Dominicans this is not the 1980,s this is not the days we built houses with 2×4 these ate the days of powerful storms that cause DEATH.Wake up
    Enforce those building codes and make it mandatory

  2. Paul Rossnof
    December 15, 2017

    What’s the point of revising it because there won’t be anybody to enforce it. Dominica has laws and codes but no police force capable or willing to enforce them in particular if supporters of Skerrit are involved. Example: looting after the hurricane, the sale of relief items by Labour operatives etc.

  3. No name
    December 14, 2017

    Tell the insurance companies to stop holding back people money. Pay up. And whilst we at it tell those same crooked insurance companies and banks to stop telling people that they need to give who they want them to give the job to because it is their friend and the real people who can do the job because it’s not their friend cannot get the job. This country will never move forward.

    God help my country

  4. All Saint
    December 14, 2017

    DNO – possibly you could lead the thrust…

    The first thing Gov’t should do is to make the revised Dominica Building Code widely available to those undertaking building projects… starting with a hyperlink on DNO pointing the general public to this revised code or specific elements within it.

    I would have thought the whole idea after Hurricane Maria would be to raise the public’s consciousness on changing cultural attitudes, through the development of wide and efficient public sensitisation campaigns.

    • DM
      December 14, 2017

      The government has an official website the codes should be on that website. The government should also have hard copies of these codes made and and place copies in every government building where anybody builder or not, can walk in and pickup a copy for themselves.

  5. Rowrowbaby
    December 14, 2017

    Widen the water entry way under the bridges, build wide canals where necessary. Also, the young men and women who are idle pay them to clear the storm drains and drains before a storm. Dominica is water logged make drainage mandatory

  6. Rowrowbaby
    December 14, 2017

    The government needs to pay special attention to the roads and bridges in some villages. Leave enough space under the bridges to prevent overflows, this is a major problem next to the Belles primary school and Belies health center.

  7. LawieBawie
    December 14, 2017

    That is why Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) is recommending construction with the use of Shear Walls.

  8. Donald Trump
    December 14, 2017

    Idiots no amount of codes can stop the wrath of Mother Nature lol

    • Anonymous
      December 14, 2017

      So we shouldn’t do anything then? Who is the idiot?

  9. Dominican
    December 14, 2017

    Mr. Rolle, I have often asked myself, and I mean no offence. What is the point of having a government planning division if their rulings are not enforced? You are no exception. We have many rules and regulations but so often I find they are ignored or flouted with apparent impunity. You have a very difficult task ahead of you.

  10. Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
    December 14, 2017

    “The first thing you do when you want to develop a piece of land for building is understanding what are the vulnerabilities”

    Baloney!

    Vulnerable to what?

    Any place in Dominica one select to build a house it will be vulnerable to hurricane damage period!

    In the more developed world before parcels of land are used for any sort of development, a government geologists goes in and probe the land, a report is issued; in it will state whether the land is suitable for residential habitation, or if it is best for farming, or simply left unused.

    Dominica is a place where it floods for centuries prior to hurricane Maria: soil erosion is a common issue; if one builds on land that is easily saturated when it rains the result will be exactly as we see in the picture.

    We cannot adapt a single Caribbean building code since the conditions of land form in Dominica is not the same as the others, what we do need is a building code to suit our country, which must be enforced. We know…

    • Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
      December 14, 2017

      Continue:

      We know that at anytime the island could be struck with a category seven hurricane, hence every building built from here on should be built to withstand a category seven hurricane. People may not like the idea, nevertheless it is for the their very own protection.

      Once the cod is established no house or commercial building should be built without an approve plan (blueprint). There must be building inspectors familiar with reading the prints to supervise the building according to the code, when they find a contractor building contrary to the plan inspector stops the construction until the builder, carpenter, corrects the flaws!

      We have to build them to withstand high magnitude earthquakes also.

  11. Zandoli
    December 13, 2017

    The chief planning officer is relying on builders and home owners to ensure they adhere to the building codes? That will never happen. You have to employ qualified inspectors to ensure builders meet the code during the entire construction process.

  12. Anthony P. Ismael Minister of Free Pampers
    December 13, 2017

    To have a building code, you first need a Planning or Buildings Department, which we do not have. Let’s not put the cart, before the horse.

  13. Carrotop
    December 13, 2017

    How many Carpenters have a license, none.

  14. Shaka Zulu
    December 13, 2017

    Part of the funds for climate resilience should be oversight. Further more we already has building codes so this tells me they were never enforced. The government needs to hire at least 5 inspectors for now. We have a tech col already providing some architectural and engineering course. Once the codes are finalized have a 3 month course to prepare a few students. They get familiar with codes and what to loom for. Then they can be hires fulltime by planning. The builders will need to pay small fee for inspections help cover cost. Construction cannot continue until inspections pass. Everytime inspector has to come out builders pay. This will help ensure they get it right first time and not cut corners. I hope that planning is also making sure we factor in geologic hazards namely earthquakes in Dominica. In our knee nerk reaction lets remember we are still in one of the most dangerous parts on the globe for eartquake and volcanoes.

  15. DM
    December 13, 2017

    Government and builders are both responsible.

    • My Two Cents In
      December 13, 2017

      The government and the builders are not the ones paying the mortgage or the insurance premiums, so they are not responsible. The homeowners needs to be assured by the government code enforcers/inspectors that their house project on the given said date meets Dominica’s building codes, and be given documentation of their house satisfaction. If the house fails code inspections, then from the inspection report, the builder will have to correct the problems because they are paid to build/repair a building to meet code standards.

      • DM
        December 13, 2017

        It makes no difference whether or not the government and the builders are paying the mortgage
        and the insurance for the property. There are codes which are like any other law that the government is responsible for making sure that they are adhered to, and as a builder you are supposed to be aware of these codes and follow these codes.
        Just like any other profession such as doctor, car mechanic etc .

    • Shaka Zulu
      December 13, 2017

      Government, builders, and home owners are responsible. They all are. Government provides oversight, home owners make sure they getting what they paying for and the government inspections are tools used. Builders are responsible for implementing at a reasonable cost. The problem here is cost. Most times increase safety comes at a price and builders normally cut cost to stay competitive and also home owners sacrifice safety for price. That has always been the dilemma. That is where you rely on government inspections to ensure compliance. Things dont work because we too often like to conveniently pass on responsibility. We all resposible to ensure system works.

  16. My Two Cents In
    December 13, 2017

    If the government is not doing so already, the government should now start to inspect all homes, after the homes have been built, repaired, a section added on, etc, so that the government inspectors will have the final say to say if the house, its building materials, construction methods, etc., meets the building codes. The final inspection, evaluation, and certification as to if the house is livable and meets the building standards should not be left up to the homeowner’s thinking or the builder’s. When the building project is complete, builder (instead of the homeowner) should contact the appropriate government building agency to schedule an inspection to see if the building, the building material, etc meets the current building codes.

    • DM
      December 13, 2017

      The builder is still responsible to make sure that all the codes are followed. If this had happened anywhere else these builders as well as the government would be held accountable. Some builders might have to pay fines, they may lose building license, and maybe do jail time. Their lucky its bass ackwards Dominica this happened in. And then both builders and government would still be opened to be taken to court and be sued.
      And the excuse that the government didn’t have the resources to enforce the codes would not be accepted.
      Neither would the builders be able to use the excuse that the home owner told them how to build the house.

    • UKDominican
      December 14, 2017

      My boy, what if the inspector is a friend, family or provided with a favour. I find that is the problem in Dominica. People are not sufficiently held to account. We are too closely connected. Everybody is someone’s uncle, auntie or cousin.

      • DM
        December 14, 2017

        The inspector can have any type of relationship with the home owner. But once there is an indecent with the house and an investigation is done, and its found that the house shouldn’t have passed inspection, records can be checked of who did the inspection. And that individual will have to explain themselves as to why they allowed the house to pass inspection.
        Once they are found to be at fault they can be fired from there position, made to pay a fine, and possible jail time. Or a combination of the three depending severity of the indecent. I’m sure once examples are made other inspectors and would be inspectors will wise up and do their job properly regardless of what their relationship is with the home owner and builder.

      • DM
        December 14, 2017

        incident is what i meant to say.

  17. smh
    December 13, 2017

    this would be a good place to present the so called codes especially since the government is crying of not having enough resources to ensure that the codes are adhered to…

  18. DM
    December 13, 2017

    “However, officials state, that the island does not have enough resources to monitor the building activities.”
    Well then you can forget about any “building back better”. If the government cant make sure that the building codes aren’t being followed, there will be and always will be a repeat of what happened in September.
    The government has to be involved in making sure these codes are followed this should have been a government practice way before this current administration was in office. You cannot leave it up to the home
    owner to make sure codes are followed and which place is and isn’t appropriate to build. They are not builders or engineers. What if the home owner is some little old lady looking to build? What does she know about codes. Some of these builders will not have the integrity to follow codes or advise the the home owners on codes and proper building procedures. The home owner shouldn’t have to spend extra money for an independent inspector thats ridiculous.

    • Real truth
      December 13, 2017

      Amen. My thoughts exactly. No code enforcement officers, this revision is a waste of time….Lets not forget that nearly half of Dominicans live in glorified shacks, and they are voters! Enforce code, you lose votes, simple……. Sigh……We need to pray!

  19. December 13, 2017

    The economics in Dominica plays a major role in such disasters. People who can afford to build good structures on a proper foundation suffer less than; those who by all means, have no choice but to put a roof over their heads.They are the ones who cannot repay a loan because they have no jobs, yet they vote. They are the hustlers who struggle to make ends meet. We are not self-sufficient in Dominica hence the reason why I say that Dominica is improving in the reverse. Over twenty years aback Dominica was much more prosperous. We could survive with whatever we produced including food from the garden and livestock. Now everything is imported and sold skyrocket prices.There is no control on the prices for the consumers. The majority of the people who are left behind are the poorest; luckily many of them have families overseas who can help.If only the gov’t would lower the import charges at the port, create jobs,I’m sure that people will be able to Dominica built better and stronger…

  20. Bob Maguire
    December 13, 2017

    Building codes for better hurricane resistance are a good thing, obviously. Bravo for that! Just a word of caution that emanates from Haiti’s earthquake experience in January 2010, however. Like Haiti, Dominica sits on a fault line – one that can burst at any given time. Haiti’s concrete buildings that pancaked killing and injuring tens, if not hundreds, of thousands offer a cautionary tale that building codes must take the prospect of a strong earthquake into consideration, also. This is especially true for buildings made of cinderblock and those with concrete roofing. Some off Roseau’s multi-story buildings look a lot like accidents waiting to happen in the event of an earthquake.

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