The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A COMMITTEE to revise the building code has only met once or twice this year, according to Bahamas Contractors Association president Leonard Sands, raising questions about the government’s commitment to changing regulations in an era where officials frequently emphasise concerns about climate change.

In its Speech from The Throne, the Davis administration pledged to enhance the country’s building code to improve resilience against climate change.

Mr Sands said he expects revised building code regulations to be ready by mid-next year despite limited meetings from the committee.

Hurricane Dorian prompted officials to push for a revised building code, a process that began under the Minnis administration.

Last year, Luther Smith, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Works and Utilities, announced that plans to overhaul the country’s building code would be unveiled by early September of last year. More than a year later, nothing has happened.

Works Minister Clay Sweeting said yesterday he would respond to The Tribune’s questions but did not do so by press time.

Mr Sands could not say what building code revisions are under consideration but suggested that one should prevent homes from being built in flood zones.

He said that, apart from this, the association does not see any major structural gaps in the country’s current building code, which he described as one of the strongest in the Western Hemisphere.

He believes pledges to revise the code after Hurricane Dorian were a “knee-jerk” reaction to a lack of planning and enforcement of the existing code.

“What we do find is we have an absolute abhorrent lack of following the code by contractors, engineers, and tradespeople alike,” he said. “If we spend more effort ensuring the enforcement of the existing code, I believe that we would go much further in preventing some of the calamities and just absolute destruction that we saw that came with a Hurricane Dorian and the fear that came with Hurricane Milton.”

He said if there is no conversation about enforcement, efforts to improve the code are wasted. He called on the government to allocate funds for enforcement.

Yesterday, Mr Sands warned that code revisions could lead to higher costs for homeowners, particularly if there are changes to structural components.

“It goes without saying a new building code means higher construction costs, and for persons who already have difficulty affording homes, well, I do not know how they go about affording something that is already out of reach and a new code increases that cost,” he said.

Last year, Mr Sweeting said the delay in revising the code was due to the ministry’s concern about making the codes too stringent, which could increase consumer home construction costs.