Specs for western Africa countries

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Author Message Amy C. Kilburn, AIA, CSI, CCS, LEED AP Senior Member Username: ackarch Post Number: 6 Registered: 11-2009 Posted on Thursday, October 04, 2018 - 12:20 pm:    All: In the next 5 months, I need to write specs for 3 different projects in 3 western Africa countries. All projects are multi-family / residential. The project will be built by a local contractor. My 1st challenge is to determine what are the enforced building codes (if any). And quickly following that, what are the accepted reference standards in these localities. I think they'll be one or more of the European (EN) standards, such as CEN, CENELEC or ETSI. Or the standards could include a broader mix of standards from ISO, DIN, etc. The 3 countries were originally French colonies, and French seems to be the widely accepted #1 foreign language. The Owner is unable to furnish any supporting information regarding codes and standards. For the past week, I've been searching the internet, checking out everything regarding these localities, and their governments and laws. Before I burn through much more time, I'm reaching out to the forum to ask if anyone else out there has written specs in Africa. And that does exclude South Africa, UAE, Qatar. Thanks, all. Amy C. Kilburn, AIA, CSI, CCS, LEED AP Matthew Corsover New member Username: mcorsover Post Number: 1 Registered: 03-2018 Posted on Friday, October 05, 2018 - 02:10 am:    This may not be directly applicable, but my Japanese colleague spent a few years supervising Japanese government grant aid projects in Mali and Senegal. They were built by local contractors, but these were bare bones, public projects intended to fulfil basic human needs - things like school buildings in rural areas. I'm not sure if this is relevant to your situation, but according to her, specifications were always prepared by a local architect/engineer, and then checked for critical items (for example, concrete quality control testing). In her case, the documents were prepared in both French and English and generally followed EN standards. I don't know if working with an architect or engineer local to the project country is an option for you, but that was her recommendation. I also asked if she had copies of any of those documents, but unfortunately it was several years ago, and probably somewhat confidential, so she does not. Sorry I can't be more helpful. Amy C. Kilburn, AIA, CSI, CCS, LEED AP Senior Member Username: ackarch Post Number: 7 Registered: 11-2009 Posted on Friday, October 05, 2018 - 11:31 am:    Matthew: thanks for your input. Yes, we are working with local architects in each country, and any support documentation for Codes we've been able to get has been in French. Ultimately our specs will be translated into French by the local architect. Before we get to that point however, we'd like to be working with the EN standards. There doesn't seem to be way to transpose our standards (ASTM, UL, AAMA, AWI, ACI, AISI, etc.) over to the EN standards. Thanks, again. What you've included is still supportive of the information we've found, though the dilemma continues! Amy C. Kilburn, AIA, CSI, CCS, LEED AP ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 1182 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Friday, October 05, 2018 - 12:02 pm:    Hi Amy Hope all is well. I haven't done work in SA but I have done work in the past for UAE and Qatar. It's been awhile so conditions may have changed. As I recall, they were receptive to standards from a number of different countries since they did not have their own standards organizations. Some municipalities have adopted versions of the IBC which obviously refer to US Standards. See https://www.government.ae/en/information-and-services/justice-safety-and-the-law/building-safety for some possibly useful links. When I was doing work there the officials were also willing to accept British Standards, DIN, and other ISO organizations. There is no Rosetta Stone between US and EU or other standards. Many European and US manufacturers now test to standards from multiple countries. Will you be at Arc-US this year? Perhaps we can talk there. Otherwise I hope to be back in DC for a brief visit soon. Wayne Yancey Senior Member Username: wayne_yancey Post Number: 884 Registered: 01-2008 Posted on Friday, October 05, 2018 - 03:15 pm:    Amy, I second Ken's reply. If there are European standards for specific products please send me a list. I have done work in China, UAE, Saudi Arabia. I will reply with what I have. Glass is one material I have DIN standards for. E-mail me at wayne.yancey@crtkl.com J. Peter Jordan Senior Member Username: jpjordan Post Number: 1058 Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Monday, October 08, 2018 - 10:17 am:    It is my understanding that West Africa is very different from the Middle East where American standards are the norm in some countries. For some very undeveloped West African locations where the infrastucture to produce stuff is very limited, products may be shipped from the US and even sometimes preassembled in the US. Angola people may have relationships with people in Portugal. It varriesa quite a bit. J. Peter Jordan, FCSI, AIA, CCS, LEED AP, SCIP Sunny Onadipe, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP, Green Specialist, PMP, SCIP (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Thursday, October 11, 2018 - 03:58 am:    I have written specs for projects in a couple of African countries. Most are for English-speaking (Anglophone) West Africa, but none for French-speaking (Francophone) West Africa. The fundamental concern should be producing documents and other deliverables that will be technically sufficient and acceptable to the local authorities having jurisdiction (AHJ’s), and aligned with the realities, standards, norms, construction practices of the local environment and construction market, as well as the needs and capabilities of local contractors. Ideally, your starting point for standards should be an English translation of whatever standards that the local architects are using and is acceptable to the AHJ’s, and responsive to local requirements outlined above. These may not necessarily be EN standards!. Since your local architect has (and should have) the ultimate responsibility for refining your initial (SD- or DD-level?) documents into CD-level(?) documents to meet local requirements outlined above, you may not need to delve into EN, ISO or other standards, or even prepare a conventional CD-level 3-part specs! Your project’s needs may be better served by you preparing a Narrative, PPD-type, or Outline Specs that spells out the broad outlines of your expectations and performance requirements, for major systems and assemblies (e.g exterior walls) without calling out specific standards or codes. An example: “Weather-resistant 200mm cement-sand blockwall, rendered with 12mm thick cement-sand plaster to meet applicable building regulations”. Your local architect is likely to be competent enough to turn your documents into whatever will meet local requirements outlined above. His/her final submission may not necessarily be a conventional 3-part spec. It is more likely to be a local variant of the FIDIC-based documents in terms of format and content, but equally aimed at helping to deliver a technically-sound high-quality building, again within the local realities and requirements outline above! I recall following a similar approach several years ago for a design-build project, designed in Minnesota, to be built in Central/South America! I hope this helps. If you prefer, we can continue discussion off-board. You can reach me at sgbcn@specsandgreenconsultants.com. Sunny Onadipe, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP, Green Specialist, PMP, SCIP (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Friday, November 01, 2019 - 12:24 pm:    Hello Amy. I hope you're keeping well. How did things turn out on your project?