CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC) — St Lucia will host a three-day Caribbean Building Standards Forum and Exhibition as the efforts continue to develop a regional approach to disaster resilience and regulation of the building sector.

The June 13-15 event is being held in collaboration with the St Lucia-based Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission and the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

It will be held under the theme ‘(Re)building for a Resilient and Robust Response to Disasters’.

The organisers said that the event will bring together local and regional stakeholders in the construction and finance industries as well as development partners.

“The exhibition component will feature building products, technologies and services that enhance disaster resilience and preparedness. This should be of particular interest to the general public as they prepare for this year’s hurricane season which starts officially (started) this month,” they said,

The organisers said that the aim of this regional building forum is two-fold.

The OECS Commission, under the EU-funded iLAND Resilience Project, is seeking to review and discuss the 2015/2016 OECS Building Code and Guidelines to update and improve their provisions and implementation, while the CDB is leading the effort to harmonize a regional approach to disaster resilience and regulation of the building sector.

The CARICOM Regional Organization for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) is also a collaborating partner on this effort and will be participating in the forum.

“Member states of the OECS and the wider CARICOM region are expected to benefit from this joint appraisal and engagement of the construction sector in respect of resilience.

Presentations will be delivered by regional and international technical experts from various fields in the industry to be followed by working groups and closed sessions,” the organisers added.