Posts Tagged ALESIA EDWARDS
Two new housing developments planned for St Ann
Posted by ShopinJA in Business News on September 1st, 2009
BY: ALESIA EDWARDS - Observer staff reporter alesiae@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, August 30, 2009
OCHO RIOS, St Ann - Plans are afoot to construct two multimillion-dollar housing developments in the parish, one along the White River and the other on approximately 300 acres of idle land at Britton Ville near Claremont.
The developments will be undertaken by St Ann businessman Dani Gonzalez, who will be partnering with US-based Tri-Steel Corporation to construct more than 2,500 housing units. The units are to be constructed entirely from steel and will become the first of their kind to be built in Jamaica and the Caribbean.
Project manager, Michael Quirke, said these new and modern houses will be safer, stronger and healthier with higher quality than any other form of construction available in the island. He said the houses will be able to withstand fire and other natural disasters as well as moulds and termite infestation.
“It’s a building method that has been used in America for the last 30 years, but it just hasn’t taken off in the Caribbean and we are going to use Jamaica as a launch pad to teach the rest of the Caribbean how to do this,” Quirke said.
The Bureau of Standards has already granted approval for this type of structure and the developers are now awaiting approval from the St Ann Parish Council to start the project.
Quirke said with this type of construction, homeowners can move into their new house within 15 days from the day the construction starts. He explained that all the building materials are ready-made and that all that needs to be done is for the building to be fastened together.
“The houses can be built completely by women, you don’t need men at all because its all light gauge, it’s nothing heavy . it’s very simple to do,” Quirke said. “Once the developers in this country see our building methods they will change their own, because it is far cheaper to build this way and the quality is much better.”
He said although the plan is to construct up to 3,000 two-bedroom apartments in a high-rise cluster-style at Britton Ville, with the Mammee Ridge Estate Project it has to wait on approval from the council to determine how many houses can be constructed and the height of each building.
