Improved building methods should be followed to save lives and property, he says
Hurricane Beryl’s damage across the small Caribbean islands is an opportunity to rebuild to the highest affordable building standards, says a research engineer whose engineering doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire specialised in how it should be done.
Grenville Phillps, a civil engineer from Barbados, is currently deployed to St Vincent quantifying the damage, and determining improvements to St Vincent’s building standards to reduce the risk of similar damage from similar hurricanes.
He has been doing damage assessments since 2004. He was deployed to Haiti after the unprecedented 2010 earthquake, which was estimated to have resulted in over 200,000 deaths and decimated many of the country’s buildings.
As part of his doctoral research, with the Caribbean as his laboratory, he examined damage to houses in Anguilla and Dominica after the Category 5 hurricanes Irma and Maria respectively in 2017, and in the Bahamas after Category 5 hurricane Dorian.
His research identified affordable and durable building methods that should allow houses to survive Category 5 hurricanes to the level of Irma, Maria and Dorian, and Magnitude 7 earthquakes that struck Haiti in 2010 and 2021, using materials generally available. Hurricane Beryl is a Category 4 event.
Dr Phillips is the principal author of the CARICOM Code of Practice for the construction of houses in the Caribbean. The Code of Practice was approved for use in the Caribbean in 2023. The content is based on his doctoral research at the University of Hertfordshire. The standard is to Category 5 hurricanes and magnitude 7 earthquakes.
“The Caribbean islands that have been affected by hurricane Beryl have an opportunity to rebuild in an affordable manner to some of the highest standards. While the cause of that opportunity is desperately sad, it represents a vital chance to improve the future-lives of affected people – and one that should not be squandered,” Phillips said.
“One popular excuse why building to higher standards was not done before, was the unverified assumption that it was unaffordable to do so. That excuse is longer applicable.”
Dr Antonios Kanellopoulos, Head of Civil Engineering and Built Environment and Director of the Centre for Engineering Research at Herts, said:
“Grenville was looking for an education partner that could offer him not only the expertise but meet his specific need to work more remotely than is usual. Herts was the only partner that met Grenville’s needs. His research and work has the real-world relevance and impact that defines this University’s ethos. We take pride that through our research we change lives and that is reflected perfectly through the outcomes of Grenville’s work.”
After his first deployment to Haiti in 2010, he founded Walbrent College to help train construction supervisors and senior artisans who could qualify as supervisors, how to build to strong and durable buildings. Already, he has trained over 1,000 people in the Caribbean.
Grenville graduated late in 2022, with a thesis focusing specifically on the resilience of Caribbean buildings and how to improve it.
His incredible and sustained efforts prevailed when his proposals for a new house building code were finally accepted by Caribbean authorities in 2023.
“I’m pleased that finally we have the means to save lives and properties by building stronger homes but realising that aim will not be achieved by simply recognising the better building methods, instead, new houses should be built to them”, Dr Phillips concluded.
Grenville Phillips’ Engineering Doctorate (EngD) from the University of Hertfordshire focused on affordable resilient house building methods for hurricane (cyclone) and earthquake prone regions such as the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands
