The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A WORKSHOP was held yesterday to inform construction and housing industry professionals about designing buildings to survive high winds.

Dwight King, training and disaster manager officer at the Ministry/Department of Public Works, said the seminar was designed to teach engineers, architects and other professionals about constructing buildings to withstand high winds, specifically during hurricanes.

“Like any profession, it’s very important that you continue what is called continued education. Over the years, techniques change, technologies change, approaches change, materials change. It’s very important that you keep up to date with the latest so you can make it better. The idea is, as good as our building code is, we want to make it even better,” he explained.

Cyndi Chandler, director of Latin America for manufacturing company Simpson Strong-Tie, said it is the leader in manufacturing wood connectors and structural products that aid in building “stronger, safer, more economical structures” for incidents like hurricanes.

“We want to get out and spread the word that you can build stronger, safer structures economically,” she said.

“I think that’s probably the most important part and we do these types of training throughout the Caribbean, throughout The Bahamas. We’re going to the Abacos on Thursday to just check out some more of the damage. Doug was on a team that went after Dorian and to assess the damage and that’s just what we do. We want to help people, and especially the Bahamians build these stronger, safer structures.”

Doug Allen, an engineer and presenter, noted that Hurricane Dorian will be discussed as well as its effects and some of the trends seen during their damage assessment back in 2019. Major updates from the older building codes to newer codes is another topic for discussion.