INCREASING demand for housing in the city, coupled with a reviving economy, has given rise to a proliferation of multi-storey buildings across Kingston and St Andrew, but architects and engineers are warning that it could all lead to doom.

As it stands now, they said, there is no structure to the location of mid- and high-rise buildings, particularly those for residential purposes.

“It’s good that the density has increased so that the city can start to look like a modern city, but the question is: Are these areas zoned for high-rise buildings? Is it time for the Golden Triangle to be rezoned, for example? We need to have a serious discussion about it because what is happening right now is disorderly and haphazard,” a former president of the Jamaican Institute of Architects (JIA) told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.

The architect asked that his name be withheld.

The so-called Golden Triangle refers to the well-to-do communities of the sprawling Seymour Lands, bordered by Hope, Trafalgar, and Old Hope roads.

The former JIA president said, in addition to the haphazard placement of multi-storey complexes, architectural considerations critical to the tropics, such as shading of buildings and the positioning of windows, are being chucked in favour of cheaper alternatives. He said, too, that it does not appear that consideration is given to the impact that mid- and hi-rise buildings have on neighbouring single-storey homes.

“There is impact on parking, on shading, on air flow, on privacy…but good architecture is being thrown out the window,” he charged.

President of the Jamaica Institution of Engineers Natalie Sparkes agreed that increasing population density is the new normal as more and more people move to the capital city in search of work, educational and other opportunities.

“But it has to be done properly. Otherwise, we’re going to have major, major problems in Kingston. We’re going to have even worse traffic snarls than we’re having now. There is going to be stress on waste management systems and pressure on the infrastructure,” Sparkes said.

“If there is the correct technical competency in the design, and you have a good urban policy plan, the vision of what you want it to look like, and where they will be located, then high-rise buildings are not the problem. I think the challenge you have is to ask the question, what is the planning vision for the city? Where do we want to put these buildings? If there is such a policy, we have not been called to the table to discuss it,” she told the Observer.

As Sparkes explained it, a high-rise in the middle of a residential area comprising primarily single-storey houses blocks views and air flows, puts stress on access to water and sewerage facilities, increases traffic, and increases the ambient temperature of the area given the loss of trees and other vegetation.

“Therefore, you have to be very careful where you put a high-rise building. So, from an engineering standpoint and and urban planning standpoint, the high-rise itself isn’t a problem, it’s just that you’d want to make sure you have a good policy position on where to put the building. It cannot be just any and everywhere, and the design has to be structured,” she stressed.

Definitions of a high-rise vary according to jurisdiction, but generally it refers to buildings with 10 or more storeys. Other definitions speak to requiring a elevator for residents to reach their destination; and a height which is beyond the reach of available firefighting equipment.

Mid-rise buildings, meanwhile, typically feature five to 10 storeys and are equipped with lifts.

For the National Water Commission, the definition is anything over two storeys, according to the conditions of approval it issues to developers, “In the event of a high-rise building over two storeys, the applicant [is to] provide, at no cost to the commission, adequate facilities which will include:

(i) a tank at ground floor level with a capacity of at least two days’ supply for the building and that said tank should be fitted with a reflux valve to prevent the possibility of back flow into the public water main;

(ii) a roof tank with a capacity of not less than one day’s supply;

(iii) booster pumps in duplicate, each capable of delivering into the roof tank not less than twice the minimum anticipated rate of water demand of the building. The pump shall draw water from the ground floor tank, and shall on no account be connected to the public water main.”

That, according to the commission, absolves it of any responsibility to increase the volume and/or pressure of the commodity supplied above the second floor.

It has recently ramped up the publication of ads to that effect across media channels, ostensibly to coincide with the planned increase of high-rise developments as per government declarations.

The National Environment and Planning Agency’s provisional development order of 2017, for instance, outlines that “as the demand for houses, especially in the high end of the market, increases due to the attractiveness of the suburbs, there will be a need for higher densities in these areas…in the form of townhouses and apartments.”

The order dictates the following density ranges:

(i) Not exceeding 125 habitable rooms per hectare (50 habitable rooms per acre) in [specific areas] with building heights not exceeding four floors; and

(ii) Not exceeding 250 habitable rooms per hectare (100 habitable rooms per acre) in [specific areas] with building heights not exceeding six floors.

It said, however, that, “In an effort, therefore, to ensure a suitable balance between the best use of land and a satisfactory environment, it is imperative that the height, density, and bulk of buildings be controlled. New buildings should conform, as far as possible, to those existing and the densities should protect the amenities of the surrounding areas.”

It’s little consolation for residents in some of the affected suburbs who say the order is not being enforced.

President of New Kingston Citizens’ Association Roger Chang charged that government regulators have allowed developers to indiscriminately erect high-rise buildings in the heart of communities like Barbican, Meadowbrook/Havendale, and others, which have predominantly comprised single-family, detached homes and some townhouse developments.

“The policy of arbitrarily and radically increasing housing densities and building heights and facilitating indiscriminate construction of high-rise buildings will not, by itself, serve to improve the city, and instead will cause, and already has resulted in, severe negative consequences for affected neighbourhoods,” he said, adding that the impact on land values and property taxes was among those negative impacts.

“The construction of high-density apartment developments is proceeding at a rapid rate, but public services to provide for potable water, storm water drainage, and sewage disposal are presently totally inadequate to serve the city,” he continued.

Sparkes, meanwhile, reiterated that even with the new building code — which is yet to be passed in Parliament — there needs to be an overarching plan to govern the construction and placement of multi-storeys.

“Are we going to put the high-rise in the centre of everything, or on the periphery, as some persons are pushing for?” she asked.