Background

The Construction industry of the Maldives has been undergoing rapid development over the past few years, and this has underscored the importance of having a regulatory frame work to regulate its works and to ensure public safety.

 The Government of Maldives recognized the importance of ensuring the safety of the built environment and mandated the Ministry of Construction and Public Infrastructure to produce the Maldives National Building Code. The Building Code will ideally be empowered from a set of building regulations which itself will be bound by a building act. However, in the absence of a comprehensive building act, but recognizing the importance of having a building code, the Ministry is publishing this National Building Code as a recommended best practices document.
 

The Maldives National Building Code 2008 is a performance based code which is aimed to provide flexibility in design with the possibility for regular change to the compliance documents and standards it refers to, depending on development in the construction industry. The advantage of a performance based Building Code is the flexibility. It contains no prescriptive requirements stipulating that certain products or designs must be used. This flexibility allows developments and innovation in building design, technology and systems. The purpose is to create the enabling environment to achieve a safe and usable building design rather than aiming for the best building design.

 In formulating the Maldives building code, extensive reference were made to other national building codes such as the UK building regulations and the New Zealand building code . The aspects of these documents, best fit to the local situation are replicated to fit the Maldivian context in the national building code. This process was finalized in consultation with numerous Maldivian technical persons and relevant authorities. The draft code had been published in the Ministry’s website for over 6 months to try and gather public comments and was distributed to all government agencies of concern for comments.
 

Compliance Documents provide details for construction that, if followed, result in compliance with the National Building Code. There will be one Compliance Document for each of the technical clauses in the Building Code, and these compliance documents will be produced separately, by the relevant authorities, which will become an integral part of the National Building Code. Each Compliance Document contains at least an Acceptable Solution (AS) or a Verification Method (VM) and sometimes both. Acceptable Solutions (AS) is step-by-step building methods which are followed to achieve compliance whereas Verification Methods (VM) are calculations or test that proves compliance.

 The government authorities responsible to set standards for the National Building Code are the Ministry of Construction and Public Infrastructure (MCPI), Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF), Ministry of Environment, Energy and Water (MEEW), Department of Public Health (DPH), Maldives Water Sanitation Authority (MWSA), Maldives Energy Authority (MEA) and Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA). The Compliance documents to the clauses of the National Building Code, standards and documents referenced in the compliance documents shall be published by the authorities regulating the general aspects of the clauses.
 

The National Building Code consists of two general clauses outlining classified building uses and interpretations and 35 technical clauses which cover aspects such as structural stability and durability, fire safety, access, moisture control, safety of users, services and facilities and energy efficiency. However, it is identified that the National Building Code has not considered enough about risk reduction from likely disasters such as tsunami, sea swell and flooding while the purpose of the code is to create the enabling environment to achieve a safe and usable building design.

 The 2004 Tsunami further underlined the importance of taking into considerations disaster risk reduction in national policies and regulations to ensure better protection of the population, assets and properties. Recent disaster risk profiles and hazard and vulnerability assessments conducted in the country revealed that one of the best mitigation and risk reduction options is to develop policies in line with the country’s hazard profiles and vulnerability. One such important and relevant development policy is the National Building Code.
 

With support from Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) and other donors, UNDP Maldives instituted a disaster risk reduction project “Capacity Building for Crisis Prevention and Recovery in the Maldives” for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into key national development plans and policies. Under this programme, UNDP Maldives assists MCPI in cooperation with National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) to review the Maldives National Building Code 2008 and introduce disaster risk reduction elements to the Code and/or its compliance documents.

 
Expected Output

Based on an agreed schedule (as stipulated in the contract), the consultancy is expected to complete and submit the following:

  •  Report on the review of the National Building Code
  • Draft road map for further enhancement of the building code
  • Implementation framework for the Code
  • Compliance documents of the different technical clauses of the Code
  • Multi-Hazard Building Design Training Course Module for policy-makers, architects, engineers, construction artisans and other stakeholders of the construction industry
  • Guidelines for minimum standards for retrofitting of existing structures and buildings (including housing)

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Recovery Manager/Assistant Resident Representative, UNDP and Senior Designated Official of the Ministry of Construction and Public Infrastructure (MCPI), and working closely with direct supervision of the Disaster Risk Management Programme Unit, the Consultant (Firm) shall be responsible on the following:

  • Undertake a comprehensive review of the Maldives National Building Code and draft a road map for further enhancement of building code
  • Conduct stakeholders’ consultation to facilitate this review
  • Revise the current implementation and inspection procedures for the new building code, if none exists, develop the inspection procedures and guidelines
  • Assist MCPI to finalize the Building Code based on the above review and consultations
  • In consultation with relevant stakeholders, formulate the implementation framework of the Maldives National Building Code.
  • Develop compliance documents for the technical clauses of the building code paying attention to expected economic impacts based on standard international practice and lessons learnt in other countries.
  • In close coordination with MCPI, coordinate and work with concerned/relevant government ministries to develop the Building Code’s compliance documents (i.e. environment, fire safety, accessibility, health) to include consolidation.
  • Ensure that disaster risk reduction and climate change risks information are deliberately and explicitly incorporated in relevant provisions and/or clauses of the documents
  • In the light of integrating disaster risk reduction in the Code and building regulations, develop a multi-hazard building design course module for policy-makers, architects, engineers, construction artisans and other stakeholders of the construction industry.
  • Consistent with the clauses and provisions of the code, develop guidelines for minimum standards for retrofitting of existing structures and buildings.
  • In the performance of the above duties, coach and/or mentor concerned staff and personnel of the MCPI on the technical and procedural aspects of the work.

Competencies

  • Skills in facilitation and coordination, entrepreneurial spirit and demonstrated ability to work in an independent manner; excellent knowledge of the English language, with exceptional writing, presentation and communication skills;
  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
  • Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
  • Treats all people fairly without favoritism

Required Skills and Experience

The consultancy firm must possess the following minimum requirements as follows: 

  • At least 5 years of experience in providing similar and/or related consultancy services to Governments, UN organizations, and other institutions.
  • Can bring in a team of experts with specialization and extensive experience on developing building code/regulations, integration of disaster risk reduction and climate change
  • Demonstrated experience in the field of developing national building code and development of compliance documents, disaster risk reduction integration and climate change
  • Conceptual and working knowledge of disaster risk management, risk reduction and development links
  • Sensitivities to local culture and ability to work in a multi-cultural environment
  • Background knowledge of the local socio-economic context of the Maldives is desirable