GRAND BAHAMA - The Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) recently held a town meeting for the city's licensed building contractors and interested industry professionals.

Attendees packed the Foster B Pestaina Centre at Christ the King Anglican Church to discuss the adoption of the Bahamas Building Code (BBC) with modifications; a revised contractors' certification program, and the introduction of a contractors' certification committee.

Addressing the group were members of GBPA's building and development services department, including Arthur Jones, vice-president; Allison Campbell, deputy director, and Clint Bain, chief building manager.

"One country, one code" was the foremost thought presented by the GBPA group.

"The GBPA Building Code was written in 1967, with an amendment in 1983," Mr Bain said.

"Technology continues to advance and by taking the strengths of the GBPA Building Code and combining them with the recently revised BBC; you now have a common standard for construction that keeps pace with the development industry," he said.

The GBPA sought to present to the building public, the idea of adopting the recently revised BBC with modifications.

"Adopting the BBC unifies the country in that the situation where one code covers 230 square miles of real estate and the other covers the balance of the Bahamas becomes non-existent. It also sends a strong message to the Bahamas' construction industry throughout the archipelago that GBPA is amenable to 'building the bridge' that presently lies between Freeport and the rest of the Bahamas," Mr Bain said.

He further stated that by cooperating as one, country-wide, future code revisions would most likely occur more frequently and be more inclusive of associated building components and occupancies, such as high-rise buildings, hospitals, medical care facilities, and energy efficiency.

Addressing the need for a revised contractors' certification program, Mr Jones explained the renewed focus on the business of contracting. "Presently, the majority of licensed construction contractors are essentially skilled and experienced masons, or skilled and experienced carpenters who do not give sufficient time to thinking about the actual business functions of construction contracting such as - management of men and materials, job costs, job cost control and scheduling and contractor's liability and responsibility," he said.

According to Mr Jones, this lack of business management skills has led to chaos in pricing, project management, compensation for additions/deletions, and too much time spent on resolving conflicts between contractors and clients.

The proposed certification of general contractors throughout the Bahamas will create a structured program suitable for contractors of all levels, he said.

To oversee the introduction of these new measures, GBPA also proposed the formation of a new certification committee.

This committee would have 11-member organization would have four GBPA representatives, with the remaining seven persons drawn from the wider community and to include two licensed general contractors, one attorney, accountant, three-phase electrical contractor or electrical engineer, master plumber and mechanical engineer.

"The group's make-up is deliberately designed to be less GBPA-populated, as a reflection of GBPA's new era of transparency," Mr Bain said.

Additionally, the certification committee will serve as a disciplinary body to hear and issue verdicts on complaints filed by the public and have authority to suspend or revoke licensees.

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