A draft National Building Code for Jamaica was recently presented by the Jamaica Institute of Engineers (JIE) and Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) to stakeholders for discussion and feedback before finalisation.

The codes will provide guidelines for constructing for structural reliability and geotechnical aspects of building and civil engineering works in Jamaica and are expected to be mandated through reference in regulations. They are based on the International Building Code (IBC) published by the International Code Council (ICC) USA since 2000, which is currently being used by various countries in the English-speaking Caribbean.

The codes were presented at the two-day “Building Code Conference” which began last Thursday at the Jamaica Pegasus.

Executive director of the BSJ, Dr Camella Rhone, said that the decision to review and revise Jamaica’s building codes, which has taken almost four years, was in keeping with the guiding principles for the development of standards as enshrined in the World Trade Organisation’s Technical Barriers to Trade Regulations and Annex dealing with the Code of Good Practice for the Development of standards.

“[These principles] speak to use of international standards as the basis for developing national standards, require the inclusion of all interested parties and partners in the standards development process; demand that this process be carried out with openness and transparency at all stages of development and that the final documents be approved on the basis of consensus,” Dr Rhone said.

At Thursday’s opening session, speakers representing several key areas including the JIE, BSJ, ICC and University of Technology, detailed the draft National Building Code for Jamaica which Dr Rhone said, “will provide a framework and basis for the sustainable development and management of the Regulatory and Quality infrastructure of the sector, in accordance with International principles and best practices”.

The said that the process has supported a participatory and balanced approach to ensure that all interested parties contribute to the development of the documents and that the process has built in some measure of flexibility to support timely, efficient and effective amendment of codes in the future.

In phase two, Dr Rhone said, stakeholders would need to address matters related to innovation, control and quality assurance.

Approximately 150 stakeholders attended the two-day event.