‘Unregistered Project Consultants A Worry’
Poorly designed buildings are the work of unregistered consultants, who produce incompetent service to their clients, says Fiji Building Designers Association (FBDA) vice-president, Alvin Singh.
Mr Singh said their association has been receiving numerous complaints of incomplete projects done by unregistered consultants.
“A lot of these projects are incomplete because they are designed by incompetent people,” Mr Singh said.
“This is why Fijians need to be educated and informed that they must only trust companies registered with FBDA,” he said.
“Members of the public also need to ensure that the building design consultant they are engaging with is registered with the FBDA as a RDC [Registered Design Consultant], prior to any official engagement.”
FBDA represents registered (building) design consultants and design technicians throughout Fiji.
Mr Singh said FBDA currently represent close to 100 building design consultants and technicians throughout Fiji.
He said FBDA has been facing a lot of challenges.
These include:
■Projects being undertaken by unregistered consultants, who produce incompetent service to clients; and
■C●ie■ts finding it difficult to access loans, hence a substantial number of projects may have been shelved.
Mr Singh said FBDA was working with relevant authorities with regards to these challenges.
“FBDA constantly conducts professional development workshops to ensure their RDC’s are continuously updated on design and documentation matters and of course new building products.”
Mr Singh said it takes years of experience and training to design a well functional building, and there were numerous factors to take into consideration.
These include:
■Ease of access/functionality of disabled access;
■Orie■tatio■ in lieu of sunrise/sunset, wind flow, potential utilisation of view;
■Comp●ia■ce of mandatory statutory requirements and building codes are paramount;
■Ma■datory use of the national building code; and
■I■corporatio■ of technological for smart homes.
Objective
the layout, developments
Mr Singh said their objective was to protect the interest of, and advance the career development of registered design consultants, technicians, and other members of their fraternity.
“FBDA is continuously working to assist its members improve drawing standards on strategically targeted areas of a building application.”
As a major stakeholder in the building design fraternity, it is their professional obligation to continuously seek to improve their service delivery to both the private and corporate sector clients.
“We understand that the Government is also focusing on the importance of designing buildings that are compliant with all upgraded structural standards, especially after the distractions caused by the natural disasters that have recently struck Fiji.”
Meanwhile, the FBDA workshop place at Holiday Inn, Suva today.
Minister for Infrastructure and Meteorological Services, Jone Usamate, is the chief guest.
Mr Singh said this was their major professional development workshop after a lapse of 18 months.
The workshop he said would primarily address ways in which to improve on utility services drawings and detailing on building application submissions.
Some of the keynote speakers are;
■Natio■a● Fire Authority (NFA),
■E■ergy Fiji Limited (EFL),
■Te●ecom Fiji Limited (TFL),
■Water Authority of Fiji (WAF),
■Fiji Roads Authority (FRA),
■i’Taukei Land Trust Board (TLTB) with a few other.
The workshop starts at 8am and rounds off at 4pm.
Feedback: will take along