Players in the building and construction industry must register with a new professional body before they can be allowed to practice in Kenya. The experts, who also include project managers, must register with the Association of Construction Managers of Kenya (ACMK) before they undertake any construction work in Kenya. ACMK says Construction Project Managers & Construction Managers Bill 2017 will deal with malpractices that have characterised the Kenyan real estate industry leading to collapse of buildings. The Bill comes against the backdrop of incidents of collapsed buildings that have killed many Kenyans in various parts of the country, especially in Nairobi. “This sector has been a field for all and has been dominated by quacks and cartels who are out to make quick money at the expense of safety of Kenyans. There has never been any legal framework to guide construction and project managers,”  association’s chairman Nashon Okowa said. ACMK was launched on Friday during which it unveiled the Bill, Okowa said, they want to present to the National Assembly before MPs break ahead of elections. The Bill establishes a board that will vet and approve construction and project managers and prescribe an examination they must pass before they are registered with the association. “Subject to the approval of the Cabinet Secretary, the board may, from time to time, formulate, vary and carry into effect schemes and curricula for education in construction project management and construction management,” states the Bill. He urged developers to only engage construction and project managers registered with the association

The building construction industry is a wide industry that encompasses many professionals. Recently, a bill has been introduced in parliament touching on the little known profession of construction management. According to the bill, each construction project should have a a professional manager who will oversee the construction process. Traditionally, this role was reserved for the architect and as expected the bill has raised mixed reactions largely by virtue of the fact that role of the construction manager is still a new concept in Kenya. An architect is primarily a design professional who will come up with plans that will form the basis for construction. A construction manager or CM will plan, coordinate, budget, and supervise the construction project from start to finish. The purpose of the CM is to control a project’s time, cost and quality. The profession is not new per se since “management” of construction has been around, of necessity, for as long as construction itself and was provided as an ancillary service by architects or engineers in other instances, and as a routine part of what construction contractors do. The argument behind having construction managers as a separate profession relates to the changing times and demanding requirements of the industry. Construction projects have become complex as different professions are involved in one single project and all these have to be managed and coordinated in order to achieve a project’s objectives. In addition, tough economic times means that every penny counts. This results to a need to exercise higher level of control while executing the construction process so as to minimize delays and at the same time giving best value for money. The building owner’s needs have also evolved. While, originally most owners were concerned with the initial cost, nowadays they will prioritize sustainable development and look at the