est. 2007

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Old National Insurance Building to be Demolished

The government plans to demolish the Old National Insurance Building and the adjacent Fire Station to create a park in the city. In related news the Treasury Building will be converted into a “mixed use facility”.It is not widely known that the Treasury Building is another of those “sick buildings”and staff from the Barbados Revenue Authority have been relocated from the Treasury Building to the Building next door.
The blogmaster likes the idea of improving the look of Bridgetown. With the arrival of the Hyatt the government may feel moved to “clean up” Bridgetown on an accelerated timetable.
David, blogmaster
The following was extracted from Thomas Sankara’s Facebook page.

#OLDNISBUILDING Good afternoon, please note I am apolitical and my conscience is not for rent, lease, sublet or hire. Why my silence on matters environmental , busy with school and the maturity of knowing when to speak. Sorry to disappoint those who spread malicious gossip about my silence. William Duguid Ronald Toppin Peter R. Phillips John King David King Arturo Edward Jeffrey Bostic Dwight Sutherland Indar A Weir Edmund Hinkson

When will the sale of the glass doors, glass frames, partitions and other salvageable parts of the building will take place. In case you have forgotten its called #UpCycling and is part of what is known as the #CircularEconomy Kirk Humphrey Dale Marshall. Such a building pre demolition can have materials removed worth hundreds of thousand of dollars and post demolition recovery of metals and debris can reused. Old concrete can make new cement and old metals can make new metals.

This is the taxpayers building and whatever can be sold pre demolition must be salvaged via fire sales. Dominique Tudor Vincent Haynes Heather Cole David Spieler Andrew Simpson

131 responses to “Old National Insurance Building to be Demolished”

  1. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    i agree completely. In fact were it up to me i would bulldoze most of the city area and its environs and start all over again with proper planning. failing that i would do it in stages

  2. David Avatar
    David

    @Greene

    You have no affinity to the UNESCO world heritage designation?

  3. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    it depends. it is according to the building, meaning its location, whether they are others like it, and its usefulness; whether it can be retrofitted given the national trust restrictions.

  4. Kammie Holder Avatar
    Kammie Holder

    We can expect to have many more sick buildings as we leave all the design inputs to the technocrats who confidently built the market in Eagle Hall. Buildings need to be able to breathe and vent in ways other than via air conditioning. Every building should have at least 4 windows on each floor to all for natural venting.

    Add the compounds in the material used in the construction, furniture, fixtures and the printers particulate emissions….you then have a toxic mix of VOCs. Oh by the way the Bellairs researchers did a study and it showed extreme vehicle exhaust emissions in Bridgetown…. please see the research on youtube.

    Not all persons have hardened DNA thus why some are more susceptible to simple illnesses such as asthma, allegies and even rare diseases. Thus, the goat who sought to dismiss the lady who aired her health concerns on Brasstacks about how the Old Nis Building made her sick obviously is a compound goat with sheep parts.

    How many companies have in their quest to make a buck have exposed their employees 5 days a week for 8 hours to non- ionize radiation by sighting cell towers on their roofs.

    Everybody thinks in Barbados its somebody`s else problem to fight their cause and many are so compromised they dare not open their mouth to speak to injustices of the masses.
    The church is compromised, the unions are compromised, the knighted are compromised and even the academics are compromised.

    No wonder, the youth lack role models in their miserable existence and frustration in an era where Emotional & Social Intelligence

  5. GP Avatar
    GP

    MAY I POLITELY ASK WHAT IS HARDENED DNA?

    WHAT IS “a compound goat with sheep parts.”?

  6. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    @Kammie

    Cannot agree more, the issue your pointing out can be easily corrected, LEGISLATED BUILDING CODE and ELECTRICAL CODE WITH ENFORCEMENT

  7. John A Avatar
    John A

    I have no problem with creating more green spaces in the city. However when we build new buildings and fail to maintain them, how many years will we get from these new structures before they too are condemned as “sick buildings?”

    Why can’t the beautiful old soft stone buildings on the old hospital site be rebuilt and used to house some of the relocated?

    New year same concerns and questions.

  8. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    I do not understand govt purpose of building a park when acres of land was prioritized many years ago for what is now known as Queens Park
    Why cant govt used the funds prioritized for demolishing the various buildings and building a Park allocated those fundings to improving the Queens Park with a modern day theme similar to Central Park
    Why two parks in the same area
    And more so why create more dreadlock in bridgetown via traffic nightmare

  9. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    An “urban” Park? That should be fun so what provision is being made for the adjacent Empire theatre? There is mention of a revitalized Bridgetown which encompasses this and other areas, “Enuff” the bringer of “good news” could expound.

    BTW the vendors in the area have complained about the short notice that they were provided re the upcoming changes, perhaps this could have been avoided if an open and transparent Gov’t was at work, but “we gatherin” took up all the energy in the room.

  10. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Sargeant

    No!! I just repeat/remind BU of what I gather from the media. Stop trying so hard to give the impression that I am insider.

  11. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    Mari….

    I’m a bit confused, so, perhaps you may want to explain a few things to me.

    RE: The truth lies in the fact that govt has not released the causes of deaths for as much as 6 murders and which gives reason to be suspicious of govt statistics for the real and correct number of murders in 2019.”

    Since when any ruling political administration has ever been responsible for compiling and providing the public with details on murders, other crimes and crime statistics?

    Hasn’t this taks always been the responsibility of the RBPF?

    Unless you’re implying this policy has changed since May 24, 2018.

    RE: “It is about time this govt tells truth on all matters and stop hiding the truth behind smoke and mirrors.”

    All the murders committed last year were reported by the local and regional media, which means the details are in the PUBLIC DOMAIN.

    If they were NOT, then, you WOULDN’T be able to mention murders you believe were not reported.

    I’m trying to find a logical reason why any “government” would attempt to suppress information that’s already in the public domain.

  12. robert lucas Avatar
    robert lucas

    @ GP January 7, 2020 9:03 AM

    I am also wondering about hardened DNA.

  13. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Robert Lucas
    @ GP

    Can you gentlemen, who are schooled in microbiology, enlighten us as to what is a sick building? Is the only cure knocking them down? How come in other places buildings survive hundreds of years and Barbadian buildings get sick in 50 years and less?Are there cures other than demolition? Is there a conspiracy story behind this malady?

  14. Silly Woman Avatar
    Silly Woman

    @Kammie Holder January 7, 2020 8:55 AM “Buildings need to be able to breathe and vent in ways other than via air conditioning. Every building should have at least 4 windows on each floor to all for natural venting…the Bellairs researchers did a study and it showed extreme vehicle exhaust emissions in Bridgetown…. please see the research on youtube.

    If the air in Bridgetown is so bad why would you suggest that 4 windows on each flor be kept open? Why would you want to let in dirty air? Also the traffic noise in bridetown is unbearable, i would not want to be subjected to that noise 8 hours per day, hundreds of days per year.

    There is no need to vent a building by the windows. How are buildings vented naturally in places when the temperature drops below zero?

    If the building is intedted to have central air conditioning, the all the wondows should be sealed so that they cannot be opened at will. The air conditioned controls should also be soley in the control of the air conditioning technicians, and the switches should be in locked boxes.

    Let the architects, designers, engineers and the technicians do their jobs

  15. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ Vincent.

    Yes the politicians sick of seeing them and new buildings does got in nuff steal!

  16. Silly Woman Avatar
    Silly Woman

    Kammie Holder January 7, 2020 8:55 AM “Not all persons have hardened DNA thus why some are more susceptible to simple illnesses such as asthma, allegies and even rare diseases. Thus, the goat who sought to dismiss the lady who aired her health concerns on Brasstacks about how the Old Nis Building made her sick obviously is a compound goat with sheep parts.”

    i heard the lady. And indeed i may be the goat with sheep parts and hardened DNA. Like the lady I have also had mononucleosis, but I know that mono can only be caught from another human being, and I know that i caught mine from my colleague Anna who sat at the desk immediately across from mine. She got sick. I got sick. I got well. She got well. I also have had Graves disease/hyper thyroidism. It was treated and has been in remission for more than 30 years. Mine might be genetic because a sister and 5 of one aunt’s 7 children have it too. All treated. All over 65 now and all well. No cancer yet. But “yes’ sibling, parent, cousin have had cancer, although all after the age of 65. so maybe one day my time will come. As for the vitamin D deficiency? Vitamin D is best had from the sun. There is no shortage of sunshine in Barbados. It is freely available to rich and poor, black and white, believer and non believer. but some of us either out of ignorance, false modesty, religious nonsense or insecurity about our blackness refuse the let the good Lord’s sun shine on us.

    Nothing to do with a building being sick.

    Going out now to walk in the sun for an hour or so.

  17. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Me think the IMF borrowed money and the money collected from taxes off the burdensome backs of the people has govt fart frightened
    Uh could add Mia blurred vision because of extensive travels
    Which all up adds up to a weird sense of over processing injected with measures that cannot provide jobs
    A weird vision of planting a million trees in a volatile and susceptible Carribbean basin that is proned to natural disasters
    A park that can increase traffic with unlimited dreadlock
    In the meanwhile the infrastructure continues to crumble
    Sewage continues to flow in the ocean
    Waste Management abd a heightened need to control and dispose of tons garbage
    These and more potential damaging issues to the economy are being placed on the back burner while govt continue to pollute the air with smoke filled mirrors

  18. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ John A January 7, 2020 1:56 PM
    “Yes the politicians sick of seeing them and new buildings does got in nuff steal!”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Right on the money! No real big kickbacks for the pols in arranging the award of contracts for upkeep and maintenance of buildings. Hence the awful eyesore of the old General Hospital site.

    But this current lot might just be scraping the bottom of the ‘kickbacks’ barrel now under the IMF surveillance and might just be looking to cream off something from the proposed old NIS building demolition job and turn into another latrine and sleeping quarters for vagrants and drunks similar to what happened to the old Fairchild Street market?

    It would be interesting to find out which punter -who financially backed the horse wearing the all-red livery during the last electoral meeting of the Duopoly stables- has received his winnings; that is, his return on his electoral investment.

    What’s next on the horse racing betting agenda? Another incarnation of the Pierhead marina project?

  19. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ miller

    What I find interesting is that for a poor tail island that in the IMF clutches, how can we find say over 3 million dollars minimum, to destroy and remove these buildings, then say another 2 million to create green spaces which in turn will generate no revenue?

    How does one go about seeking finance for such a project, if it indeed will be funded by the state? Or do we have a private unnamed entity picking up the bill for this? Guess I will have to wait and see what colour trucks show up to haul away the debris to find out.

    So many questions and so few answers, just statements being made adhoc to the peanut gallery.

  20. David Avatar
    David

    @Dr. Lucas

    A commonsense understanding of what Kammie means is that humans have different immunity systems and therefore health positions will be affected differently as a result based on the prevailing environmental conditions.

  21. David Avatar
    David

    In an enlightened jurisdiction the environmental (sick) reports should be accessible to the public and plans for the area to remove a lot of the uninformed (or not)commentary surrounding this matter.

  22. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ John A

    The traditional corporate sector that should have taken better care of Bridgetown abandoned it for Warrens.
    Now the taxpayers have to once more carry the burden.
    I was told that even parts of parliament have been declared unfit or sick and some workers there were not attending work. Then I read in the press that a MP said she was absent for several weeks because the building was making her sick.
    Maybe declaring a state of emergency and declaring Bridgetown unfit Is the solution. That would at least give us a good reason to lick down parliament and Nelson.

  23. John A Avatar
    John A

    @ William.

    What does it take to condemn a government building as being sick and unusable? At what point does one decide a building is only fit for destruction?

    I keep hearing about sick government buildings but who decides its beyond recovery? Is there a building doctor that after giving it a physical, then condemns it to the morgue?

    Seriously can anyone tell me how one arrives at the final decision to level a building as a result of being unusable?

    Help me here I struggling to understand the process in all honesty!

  24. john2 Avatar
    john2

    Are there any private sector buildings that are consider to be “sick?

  25. GP Avatar
    GP

    re A commonsense understanding of what Kammie means is that humans have different immunity systems and therefore health positions will be affected differently as a result based on the prevailing environmental conditions.

    REALLY?
    commonsense understanding ?
    humans have different immunity systems DO THEY REALLY? SINCE WHEN?

    PLEASE KINDLY LIST THE different immunity systems THAT humans have CAUSE THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT SOUND SCIENCE.

    STILL TRYING TO FIND HARDENED DNA IN THE LITERATURE

  26. GP Avatar
    GP

    IF ONE OF MY STUDENTS WERE TO TALK SUCH RUBBISH IN MY CLASS I WOULD ASK HIM TO LEAVE THE ROOM

  27. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Vincent Codrington

    The answer to your question:

    The same way that buses , ambulances and other government equipment and vehicles have short life spans.
    And as we all know and it’s not lost on the Duopoly that ordering parts and handing out contracts to carry out maintenance are the smoothest ways to corruption.
    We like to pussyfoot around these matters but the Duopoly has mastered how to use poor maintenance to line the pockets of its card bearers. So building a new Bridgetown on an empty treasury is really a piece of cake for the Duopoly.
    Don’t forget the infamous Barrack at Warrens building and that was brand new!

    The Duopoly Rules

  28. David Avatar
    David

    @John 2

    You know the answer.

    Private sector buildings are better maintained.

  29. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ John A

    Here is a Duopoly classic

    Nation Newspaper 27th September 2017

    The Barrack building project at Warrens has ended up costing Government close to $150 million.

    And among that figure was more than $15 million in fees for some prominent lawyers, including Queen’s Counsel and former parliamentarians Sir Richard Cheltenham and Sir Maurice King.

    Contractor Al Barrack had been awarded $34.5 million by the High Court in 2006 after suing Government over completion of the Warrens Office Complex, which started in 1998. The actual cost of construction at around $70 million and the other associated expenses were responsible for this figure.

    But yesterday, Minister of Housing and Lands Denis Kellman told the House of Assembly that even though these sums had been paid, “we are still without a building and we are now leasing the building from Barrack Construction Ltd because it was not settled when the judgment was given”. (GC)

    Building started in 1998
    Judgement set by High Court in 2006 for $34.5 million
    Al Barrack eventually got $150 million in 2017
    15 million in legal fees to the Duopoly legal eagles
    Taxpayers ending up paying 116 million more

    19 years one building.

    All i can say is hide your cookie jars, the Duopoly don’t make sport !

    The Duopoly Rules

  30. john2 Avatar
    john2

    What about leasing/ selling (some of ) these buildings? Any chance?

  31. David Avatar
    David

    How does selling fit with the plans plans of successive governments?

    The opposite always seems to be true, governments prefer to rent from the private sector.

  32. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Any head of state in the carribbean seeing the massive devastation in Haitia . Bahamas …and now Puerto Rico all from natural disaters would stop pussy footing with the emotional stability of the populace and start taking steps to strengthen their country infrastructure before the inevitable happen
    We have a PM meking nuff mock sport of the people intelligence planting trees Meking small talk about a puny park .planting a million trees after years of partof a govt who structured and table policies to the cutting down of valuable trees which were helpful to stimulating barbados economy while replacing these trees with concrete
    And bragging about demolishing buildings
    What a ting doah
    Btw wuh happen to the Hyatt this is 2020 when things was to happen

  33. john2 Avatar
    john2

    Lump sum from sale, property taxes every year. Utilities being used – water sewage etc

  34. John A Avatar
    John A

    @David

    Do you know how or who makes the final decision on if a building is beyond repair and hence demolition is its only option here in Bim?

    Is it the ministry of health, town planning department or another entity that makes the final decision?

    I ask because I have been in buildings in Europe well over 100 years old which are still serving as offices today.

    How do we therefore condemn buildings in a temperate climate to demolition after only 30 or 40 years? What criteria must be met and by whom for such a decision to be made?

    This to me is what we must explore. Barbados is in no financial position to destroy buildings which may well not even have reached their half life, when all that is needed is a maintenance plan.

  35. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    Our issue is lack of maintenance. It applies to public vehicles as well. Usually a sick building would have attracted complaints from the occupants over a period, during said period the environmental technicians would have done their investigations using scientific approaches. At some point the relevant ministries will issue the order to condemn. One suspects there is political influence exerted in the process. We never hear about remediation.

  36. John A Avatar
    John A

    @David

    I ask because if let’s say a declaration was needed to be published in the press by the ministry stating the cause of the sick building designation, why then couldn’t the building be offered for sale once it’s “disease” was made public to the potential buyer in the said press release?

    In other words if a company decided to buy the “sick” building and spend say $5 million cleaning it up, would that not be better than its total loss by demolition? Providing laws were established of course that required the relevant authorities to issue the final ” All Clear ” certificate prior to it being opened for use after its restoration.

    We are not Dubai who can destroy a building at half life and replace it because they have the money. We are instead a poor island in the middle of an austerity program headed by the IMF. How can we just as taxpayers, sit back and watch young buildings written off due to nothing but poor management and maintenance?

  37. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    This govt is very good at creating stories that would capture the imagination of the gullible while sweeping those issues important to growth to feed the economy under the rug
    The Hyatt loud noises has all been but blown away and replaced with the howling sounds of “sick buildings”
    All and sundry knows that gimmicks does not sustain or help an economy to grow
    No matter how many buildings are demolished and people backs are daily press against the wall and unemployment continues to climb in the face of a depress economy
    Buildings going down wouldn’t mean a dam thing to the person who has their household to up keep
    Mia teking many for fools and many continue to bite the bait
    10 garbage trucks and their is a big hooray
    But when will the people who have silently given back to the economy in pain and suffering receive their due worth

  38. WURA-WAR-on-U Avatar
    WURA-WAR-on-U

    “And among that figure was more than $15 million in fees for some prominent lawyers, including Queen’s Counsel and former parliamentarians Sir Richard Cheltenham and Sir Maurice King”

    it’s always about their greedy, covetous selves and what they can get for themselves, it is never about people or country and with all the billions they have stolen over the decades from every taxpayer funded project including the thefts of estates from the elderly and their beneficiaries they all still look like the WALKING DEAD…and those are just the ones who don’t look obese and ready to collapse from gluttony.

  39. Kammie Holder Avatar
    Kammie Holder

    @David, thank you as I have no time to split hairs. Not all of us are built the same and we all have different levels of immunity. #Noosphere exist. professionals still make errors,. Example architect still built a bird nest for a market at Eagke Hall and even the theory of dark matter is about to be turned on its head!

  40. David Avatar
    David

    @John A

    It is never that simple when the government is involved in these matters.

  41. Kammie Holder Avatar
    Kammie Holder

    @Dr Lucas, GP, two kids born same year.. One born with cats and untidy environment the other born in a home where household use a lit of vleankng agents and sninals are absent. One kid develops asthma and allegies and the other not a thing… One of the boys is my son and the my sister’s.

    Is #Herdimmunity a factor

  42. Bajan in NY Avatar
    Bajan in NY

    Am I the only person who heard that the NIS bldg has serious foundation problems which would most likely make any attempt at rehabilitation an exercise in economy folly?

  43. GP Avatar
    GP

    @David, thank you as I have no time to split hairs. Not all of us are built the same and we all have different levels of immunity

    different levels of immunity IS CERTAINLY NOT THE SAME AS different immunity systems

    ARE YOU THANKING DAVID FOR BEING INACCURATE AND VERY INARTICULATE?

    ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT LIKE THE OTHER, ONE OF THESE THINGS IS NOT THE SAME

    I DONT SPLIT HAIRS BUT I AM EXPECTED TO BE ACCURATE AND VERY ARTICULATE ………AND I TRY SO TO BE WHEN I SPEAK IN PUBLIC FORA BECAUSE FOLK EXPECT ME TO BE ACCURATE

    I KNOW THAT IT IS WIDELY THOUGHT ON BU THAT SEVERAL INTERPRETATIONS ARE POSSIBLE FOR MOST THINGS

    I AM STILL TRYING TO FIND HARDENED DNA IN THE LITERATURE CAUSE I NEVER HEARD ABOUT IT BEFORE

    THE PERSON WITH ASTHMA IS SAID TO BE ATOPIC

    HERD IMMUNITY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT

    GOOGLE HERD IMMUNITY AND ATOPY

  44. John Avatar
    John

    Is the space supposed to be a park park or a car park?

    How many floors of the Hyatt Hotel will be devoted to parking space?

    How long will the Hyatt take to fall ill like the NIS building?

    Will it receive any immunizations to give it a different level of immunity than the NIS has??

  45. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    In here like a red herring gravy. 🤣🤣 But if I were the government MAM2 would have to pay for the demolition of the NIS building, the provision of the park and maintenance for 15-20 years. This is about 3% of the total cost of Hyatt. Other proposals would contribute to the upgrade of the Fairchild St bus terminal and market. If we are going to erect a series of tall, modern buildings on Bay Street and regenerate Btown, then we need to create lungs for the city to help mitigate impacts on air quality and enhance the character of Bridgetown’s townscape/aesthetic with a mix of the built and natural environment. For the uninitiated, enhancement of the setting and significance of heritage assets is the ultimate goal of conservation. Wunna waan go heaven or not?

  46. Silly Woman Avatar
    Silly Woman

    Yes I do want to go to heaven, but truthfully just like you i do not want to die. I trust that you have no problem with that spiritual conflict.

    I admit that I am conflicted about the demolition of the old NIS building. I must admit that i like old buildings, all old buildings. I wish that every one could be saved…but yet i look forward to a greener, fresher Bridgetown, i love trees too. I’ve never met a tree or a flower or a bush or a grass that I did not like.

    Saying all that to say this. I am glad that i did not have to make the decision.

    i look forward to a better, cleaner, more efficient bus stand because I take the bus a lot, and presently the bus stands stink. I don’t like stink.

    I look forward to better markets too. Not enclosed air conditioned ultra modern markets, but good beautiful, functional markets with character, and characters.

    I hope that wunna got some real, real good architects on board. I hope that wunna int letting no engineer design the buildings and spaces. My feeling is that it is ok to use engineers for the structural/mechanical/electrical things, but for functionality and beauty please pay the architects well and let them do something that will entrance us all with the beauty and functionality.

  47. nextparty246 Avatar
    nextparty246

    Silly Woman:

    Commercial buildings are normally designed by architects. I am unaware of any commercial or public building in Barbados that was designed by an Engineer.

  48. John Avatar
    John

    If we can make the sick Supreme Court Building well why can’t we heal the poor sick NIS building?

    Do buildings contract different types of sicknesses?

    Is there some sickness going around Barbados that is affecting all of our buildings?

    Who was the doctor in attendance at the Supreme Court building?

    … or was it a priest?

  49. John Avatar
    John

    Was the Hilton sick too?

  50. John Avatar
    John

    Which architect designed the NIS Building?

    Which architect designed the old Hilton?

    Was it the same one?

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