I have come to the unfortunate realization that we are doomed to experience the misery and economic setback that other Caribbean islands experienced after being examined by major hurricanes. These countries only paid attention to building standards after their buildings were weighed in the balance and found wanting.

I have given up hope that the Town Planning department will accept their responsibility to ensure that houses are both designed and built properly, until they actually see the devastation that they could have prevented. I have also given up hope that the Ministry of Housing will accept its responsibility to ensure that their proposed 2,500 “units” will be anything but sub-standard.

During the past 12 years, I have rarely seen a house built that confirms to the minimum structural requirements of our national building standard. It is very distressing to report that every one of those sub-standard houses could have been built properly at no additional cost. There seems to be a strange belief among builders and homeowners that they can somehow realize good quality construction by simply wishing it to be so.

Read the full article supported with pictures on Mr. Phillip’s Weighed In The Balance Blog

Grenville Phillips III is one of the few structural engineers in Barbados who has been willing to share information with the public in a direct way. We have featured a few of his informative articles which he has written on BU which he has published on his blog. Constructing a house is the most important decision most individuals will make, and the single greatest expense undertaken in their life time. It is therefore a very distressing thought that a leading Structural Engineer in Barbados in the person of Mr. Phillips would make such a damning statement “During the past 12 years, I have rarely seen a house built that confirms to the minimum structural requirements of our national building standard.” or “I have given up hope that the Town Planning department will accept their responsibility to ensure that houses are both designed and built properly, until they actually see the devastation that they could have prevented.” In most countries if a leading engineer uttered the kind of observation which Mr. Phillips has levelled, the government would be under pressure to respond. We have a new government in position so that will be used as an excuse to ignore Mr. Phillip’s cry for the moment. The Town Planning Unit which is reported to be understaffed and under equipped, we learned this after the Britton’s Hill tragedy, could use a Public Relations Officer because we never hear from them on the perennial issues of our poor building standards.

Mr. Phillips, as a Barbadian we the BU household have come to appreciate your forthrightness when dealing with matters in your profession which affect the public of Barbados. We understand your frustration but urge you to continue to make your professional observations public. Like you we continue to be amazed to witness the massive construction underway in Barbados while the lack of an enforceable building code continues to reveal a negligence by our regulatory and policymaking bodies.

As a civic minded person, which you seem to be, we applaud you Sir on your effort to heighten awareness in the area of construction.

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