OCHO RIOS, St Ann – A 260 square foot bamboo-framed house was one of the main attractions at the recently held Denbigh Agricultural Show. This is the first building on record to be erected in Jamaica using local bamboo and trained Jamaican builders.

This demonstration building uses modern, earthquake resistant technology to build a solid frame that was finished with mortar and clearly shows that local bamboo, found in large amounts in Jamaica, can be used to provide economical, eco friendly and sustainable building solutions.  One visitor to the bamboo house which also displayed bamboo chairs remarked, “Finally Jamaica has figured out what to do with bamboo”.

“The building material of choice for the 21st century might just be bamboo” claims an article from World Environment carried on NBC News, one of the three major networks in the United States.

Building with bamboo alone, or mixed with other materials such as concrete, provides a cooler more eco friendly alternative to traditional building methods and material.

It is stronger and more ecologically appealing than timber houses

A small group of Jamaican architects, engineers and builders now have the capacity to erect buildings after receiving training from Colombian building technicians under the Jamaica – Colombia cooperation programme. In response to pictures of the bamboo building, the Colombian Coordinator of the technical Cooperation Programme has indicated “I am personally very pleased with this project… I am very happy.”

It is expected that this will be the beginning of an industry where selected communities are trained to grow, harvest and preserve bamboo for use in the construction of boards and buildings, including small eco tourism resorts and middle class housing.

BY RENAE DIXON