Jamaica & Architecture

Deputy Mayor of Kingston Lee Clarke (left), and Town Clerk Errol Greene (right) watch as Kingston and St Andrew Corporation engineers carry out tests on a partially-collapsed building in Lawrence Tavern, St Andrew.

On Tuesday April 27 the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) placed a stop order on work on a four-storey building in Lawrence Tavern, St Andrew, parts of which collapsed and killed forty year old contractor Denton Redwood and injuring four other workers.  The building has several faults including weak concrete columns and beams.

Jamaicans do not use architects. We seem to be stuck with the mentality of the plantation days where houses were built with stone and wood. Any man who could see to put stone and wood together could build a house.

We are yet to bring architecture into the 21st century where there are processes and procedures to follow.


The services of architects are usually a necessity for medium to large corporations. But the average Jamaica will pay a draftsman to draw up some plans and then get cheap labourers to build their house or small business.


Admittedly the price of an architect’s services can run into the hundreds of thousands but these are the persons who are professionally trained to engineer the construction of four (4) storey high buildings. And who can stem the senseless lost to life.


The Jamaican Architectural Industry is small with about 50 – 300 practitioners. The impact of technology – the internet and e-commerce has enabled the architect to work with organizations globally without having to leave his/her desk. Today’s architectural offices are paperless and most use computer aided drafting to design the work.


The architect offer representation for their client and their duties normally entail:


 Visiting the site
 Coming up with a concept or design
 Designing in detail the concept
 Providing a working drawing – blueprint
 Submitting the necessary documents for the approval process


Building approval must be sought from the various regulatory agencies before any new structure, modification of existing structure, change of use or addition to any structure commences. The major players in the approval process are:


• The Local Authority (Parish Council)
• National Environmental & Planning Agency
• National Works Agency
• Fire Brigade
• The Ministry of Health
• National Water Commission


 Supervise the site during the building process


On the issue of approval for building; Deputy Mayor of Kingston Mr. Clarke said that the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) would be stepping up the pressure on persons who breach the city’s building code.