Closing date:

Consultant: architect/engineer

City/location:
Malé
Organization:
United Nations Development Programme - Maldives

This job posting has closed

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 framework to regulate its construction 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 Housing, Transport and Environment (MHTE) 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, durable 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 Housing, Transport & Environment (MHTE), Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF), 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. All the 35 compliance documents have been drafted and most of which received comments from the responsible governmental authorities.

However, it is identified that the National Building Code has not considered enough about risk reduction from likely disasters increasingly exacerbated by climate change such as tsunami, sea swell, flooding and sea level rise while the purpose of the code is to create the enabling environment to achieve a safe, durable 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 and climate change adaptation into key national development plans and policies. Under this programme, UNDP Maldives assists Construction Industry Development Section (CIDS), MHTE 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 followings:
-Report on the review of National Building Code
-Draft road map for further enhancement of the National Building Code
-Report on the review of Compliance Documents of the different technical clauses of National Building Code

Management arrangements

The consultant will be directly responsible to UNDP Maldives, specifically under the overall guidance of the Resident Representative, a.i or Officer in Charge and direct supervision of the Programme Manager, Disaster Risk Management Unit, working closely with the other specialists working in the project towards achieving the outputs. The consultant will be reporting to a Designated Senior Staff of the CIDS-MHTE. CIDS-MHTE will also hold responsibility over day-to-day supervision, coordination and monitoring of the consultant.

Final acceptance and certification of the outputs from the Consultant will be done by the CIDS-MHTE. Final approval of the cutput submitted shall be granted by the UNDP Maldives upon receipt of Final Certification from CIDS-MHTE.

The consultant is expected to work very closely, interact and coordinate with CIDS-MHTE, various concerned line ministries mandated to develop compliance documents of the Building Code and stakeholders of the construction industry sector (i.e. Engineers’ and Architects’ Association, construction firms).

CIDS-MHTE and UNDP Maldives will assist the consultant to obtain necessary meteorological and seismic data (earthquakes, tsunamis, wind storms, cyclones, etc.).

Duties and responsibilities

Under the supervision of a Senior Designated Official of MHTE, and closely coordinated by the Disaster Risk Management Programme Unit, UNDP Maldives, the consultant shall be responsible on the following:
-Undertake a comprehensive review of the Maldives National Building Code
-Conduct stakeholders’ consultation to facilitate this review
-Draft a road map for further enhancement of the National Building Code including basic design of necessary trainings and orientation programme as well as necessary implementation framework for the National Building Code
-Assist MHTE to finalize the National Building Code based on the above review and consultations
-Review the 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 MHTE, coordinate and work with concerned/relevant government ministries to review the compliance documents (i.e. environment, fire safety, accessibility, health).
-Ensure that disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation are deliberately and explicitly incorporated in relevant provisions and /or clauses of the documents
-In the performance of the above duties, coach and/or mentor concerned staff and personnel of the MHTE on the technical and procedural aspects of the work.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:
-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

Functional competencies:
Knowledge management and learning
-Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example
-Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills

Development and operational effectiveness:
-Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting
-Ability to lead formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects, mobilize resources
-Ability to formulate and manage budgets, manage contributions and investments, manage transactions, conduct financial analysis, reporting and cost-recovery
-Good knowledge of the results management guide and toolkit
-Good ICT skills, knowledge of Atlas
-Ability to implement new systems and affect staff behavioral/ attitudinal change

Management and leadership:
-Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback
-Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
-Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills
-Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities

Required skills and experience

The consultant shall carry out the above duties and responsibilities and deliver the said expected outputs in close cooperation with the other 2 consultants (building code specialist and disaster risk reduction and climate change specialist) as a team. For this purpose, all the consultants will be required to possess the following minimum requirements:
-At least 5 years of experience in providing similar and/or related consultancy services to governments, UN organizations, and other institutions.
-Awareness of similar legislations and regulations affecting the building industry in any one country; specific country in the region is desirable
-Background knowledge of the local socio-economic context of the Maldives is desirable
-Experience in working in a team of experts

Minimum qualification of the expert (architect/ engineer)

-Masters degree or equivalent in the field of structural engineering, civil engineering and architecture and/ or other relevant disciplines
-Strong theoretical/ practical knowledge and experience in the construction industry and architecture, specifically related to development of building codes and compliance documents
-At least 5 years of professional experience in architecture and structural engineering

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