Draft three of the updated Fiji Building Code is near completion and will be released this week. The Government confirmed this in a statement released on its official social media Facebook page.
Consulting team Wavefront Planning and Design has been engaged by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in partnership with the Fijian Government for the past 14 months been working with the Joint Task Group, 37 volunteers from government and the private sector, to prepare a 30-year update to the Building Code.
According to the Government, residents and stakeholders were asked for feedback and comments in May early this year at a series of public meetings held in Nadi, Suva, Labasa and Levuka. Those public meetings were facilitated by the Ministry of Public Works, Meteorological Services and Transport and hosted by the Ministry for Local Government.
Wavefront director Janis Fedorowick said their process from the beginning had been to involve the building industry and stakeholders as much as possible.
“We have received valuable feedback from groups such as Energy Fiji Limited, National Fire Authority, National Disability Council, Fiji National University, University of the South Pacific, International Finance Corporation, Fiji Architects Association, Engineers Fiji and many more,” Ms Fedorowick was quoted saying in the statement.
“The update to the Building Code truly represents the ideas and suggestions of well over 100 volunteers and residents.
“The more feedback we receive, the better the final result. Our primary task is to engage stakeholders, generate discussion, stimulate ideas, and customize a set of tried and true standards to the context of Fiji. All feedback is welcome!”
Director Buildings and Government Architect Andrew Pene, based at the Ministry of Public Works, Meteorological Services and Transport, said the “a final document is close to completion”.
“Draft 3 will be posted online at www.mims.gov.fj/national-building-code by the end of the week and includes extensive feedback from Fiji building professionals and the community,” Mr Pene said.
“We hope to wrap this up in the next few weeks so residents and stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the contents of the documents by 10am, Monday, July 31, 2023 via the contact details on the website.”
Wavefront Planning and Design has been preparing policy and design documents for decades, and completed a similar update, the National Building Code of Samoa, in 2018, according to Government.
It states that Wavefront has been working in the South Pacific since 2014 on policy and design projects to mitigate the impact of climate change while strengthening social, cultural and economic benefits, “which aligns with Fiji’s commitment to creating a greener and more sustainable future as prescribed in the Climate Change Act of 2021”.
