THA stresses good building practices

AS the construction sector continues to grow, there continues to be an emphasis on safety by the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).

This as the THA Division of Infrastructure, Quarries and the Environment in collaboration with Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL) hosted a one-day cement and concrete symposium titled, “Resilience”, last week.

The conference, held at the Shaw Park Cultural Complex on Thursday was aimed at updating contractors, builders, engineers, foremen, quantity surveyors and even home-owners on best practices in working with concrete and advances in the industry.

Speaking with Newsday Tobago, TCL’s Group Commercial Strategy Advisor, Avalene Mooloo noted that there is a need for tough buildings and the enforcement of building practices.

“With the onslaught of the amount of natural disasters that has been occurring in the Caribbean for the last couple of years – Haiti all the way back to the last weekend in Trinidad – where we have been getting hits with earthquake, with hurricanes, with flooding. It is important that we understand the importance of resilient building that speaks to world class practices, as well as good quality engineering,” she said.

Participants were taught about developments in concrete road paving, cement type and applications, admixtures and their uses, concrete and concrete mixes (science and applications), new techniques in concrete application, and soil stabilisation using concrete.