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CONSTRUCTION KNOWLEDGE BLOG
January 16, 2012
Building in Guyana
Last week I got an email from Jewel Cameron. He wanted to join the Construction Knowledge mailing list and told me a bit about himself. He’s from Guyana and has 25 yeas of practical construction experience there. I thought, “That sounds fascinating” and asked him to provide some details about building in Guyana. He obliged below.
Guyana, located in South America near the Equator, is surrounded by three Countries and the Atlantic Ocean. To the East is Suriname, West is Venezuela , South is Brazil , North is the Atlantic Ocean. Guyana
is a tropical Country, the weather condition is rain and sun. We have no winter.
We use international construction standards, utilizing a combination of guidelines from the American Standard for Testing and Materials (ASTM), British Standard Institute, and Guyana Bureau of Standards. The materials mostly used are timber and concrete elements. For large buildings foundations, bridges , wharfs and other heavy construction, timber and timber piles are used.
Green Heart, one of the best species of timber with a high density and strength, often gets used for piles. For small domestic buildings, we use shallower foundations made of reinforced concrete. External walls of buildings are made with timber, concrete, or steel framed. Exterior sheathing tends to be aluminum, concrete, asphalt shingles, clay tiles, etc. Internal walls and ceilings are made with seasoned Green Heart, hardwood, plywood, gypsum board, hollow concrete block, cement and sand plasterwork, ceramic tiles, terrazzo finishes, or PVC panels.
Plumbing, electrical, furnishings and painting materials are manufactured in Guyana or imported from foreign countries . Jewel C Cameron MBEng
I appreciated Jewel’s comments and hope he continues to build his career in this great industry of construction. As I looked for photos of Guyana in Google images, the one below made me think of some construction challenges they encounter that I’m glad to forego.
