Panel delays strict new building code

ABU DHABI // Rules expected to be in place early this year to improve building standards will be delayed until 2011, according to a senior municipal official. Ahmed Shareef, the undersecretary of the Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA), said codes designed to make sure new buildings have adequate fire-prevention systems and disabled access will probably not be enforced until January, nearly a year after the original deadline.

"We are doing our best," Mr Shareef said at a municipal workshop. "The code has to be in place, and it has to be in place soon. We are working hard across all sectors that are concerned about the codes." Officials with the administrative body for Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Western Region municipalities said last year that they hoped to impose the International Building Codes by early 2010, but implementation has been delayed.

The codes will bring the emirate up to international standards, establishing minimum building requirements for energy conservation, fire safety, plumbing, mechanical operations, private sewage disposal, property maintenance and gas supply. "We are seeing more people eager and enthusiastic to see the codes put in place than people who are afraid of them," Mr Shareef said. Projects in the emirate abide by a variety of building codes, drawn from around the world. The US-based International Code Council's standards would bring uniformity to building design.

Mr Shareef said it is a matter of "when" rather than "if" the codes will be put in place. "When there is this kind of environment, this kind of willingness, then we shouldn't worry too much," he said. "The code is going to be enforced across all sectors by January 2011." A spokesman with the DMA later added that dates for enforcement were "still fluid and not yet confirmed by the Executive Council".

Dr SK Ghosh, a US codes consultant invited by the DMA to conduct seismic design workshops last year in Abu Dhabi, said new codes were badly needed. "Compared to the current situation, the adoption of the [codes] will be a huge improvement, and I somehow see that it is being delayed," Dr Ghosh said. "My expectation, based on what I heard in the beginning, was that it would have happened by now or at least close to it. But now, the earliest date I hear is January 2011."

Questions about the enforcement of the new codes resurfaced recently after two apartment fires in the Tourist Club area. The new fire codes would have mandated the installation of adequate fire prevention systems in those buildings. A consultant working closely on the implementation of the codes said the Executive Council requested more information from code representatives in a meeting this month.

"We're very close, it's right down to shoring up a few details," the consultant said. "I think the concern is they want to make sure that everybody is not only ready to handle the influx of the new requirements, but they want to make sure the design community is ready." Since last year, the DMA has organised more than 40 workshops to train private and public engineers and designers in preparation for the codes.

According to Ali Bukair, a policy consultant for the DMA, the new guidelines would give residents safer, greener and more economical buildings to live and work in. @Email:mkwong@thenational.ae