Council’s principal building inspector servicing Helderberg communities, Ayanda van Wyk, among others playing a vital role in building a safe environment in the Metropole, is being celebrated by the City of Cape Town.
Along with fellow building inspectors, Faizel Amoo from Athlone and Nompumelelo Williams from Khayelitsha, she is being recognised for working closely with the communities being served and being passionate about raising awareness about safe building processes and methods, especially in less privileged suburbs.
Van Wyk, Principal Building Inspector for the City in Gordon’s Bay and surrounding areas, has served various communities such as Firlands, Gordon Heights, Gordon’s Bay Extension 12, Gordon’s Bay Village, Harbour Island, Mountainside, Mansfield, Temperance Town, Sweet Waters, Crystal Waters and outlying farm areas surrounding the seaside village for the past 11 years. The Kuils River resident is proud to be a black female building inspector in a very male-dominated trade and sector, and enjoys that she can interact with contractors, engineers and government authorities to address issues, provide guidance and enforce compliance, especially when needing to resolve disputes and challenges that arise during construction projects.
“‘Earlier this month [September] we welcomed eight new building inspectors who will now serve the Khayelitsha, Kraaifontein, Athlone, Cape Town, Helderberg and Tygerberg planning district offices,” said Deputy Mayor and the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews. “This brings the total of City building inspectors across the metro to 84 inspectors. These individuals play an integral part in ensuring a safe-built environment in Cape Town, and we are celebrating the quality of work these inspectors conduct across the City and the manner in which they deal with all the property owners and role players within the building sector.
“These three inspectors have an admirable passion for the communities they serve and it is encouraging to hear how they sincerely want to educate the residents on safe building practices.”
A typical day as a building inspector would be to respond to requests for construction inspections from property owners and contractors and attending site meetings on bigger building projects with various professionals representing the City. This involves lots of travelling to various sites and meeting different people from all walks of life.
The main function of a building inspector is to ensure compliance to an approved building plan and to ensure proper building methods are adhered to.
The City’s building inspectors are also responsible for dealing with building complaints and building disputes between neighbours. Complaints of encroachments, where neighbours structures are overlapping onto adjoining neighbours causing damages is a common occurrence and has to be dealt with on a weekly basis. The building inspectors therefore need to be equipped with excellent diplomacy and negotiation skills to ensure amicable outcomes in these instances.
“In August, the City’s Development Department saw the best statistics for approvals on the DAMS 2 online portal since implementation of the new system in March, with a 98% achievement versus the same time last year – before the new system was implemented. This means that on some days there is 70+ building plans being approved across the City in one working day and naturally our building inspectors will be noticing an uptick in online site inspection bookings as building work commences on these newly approved development applications,” said Andrews.
A City building inspector has high visibility in their respective areas and their responsibilities include:. Conducting compulsory inspections to check on the foundation; drainage and work completion in order to ensure safety and conformance to NBR Regulations ACT. Provide technical guidance and assistance to builders, architects and property owners regarding compliance with building regulation. Conducting regular site visits to inspect ongoing construction projects, verifying that they adhere to approved building plans and safety standards. Investigating complaints and unauthorised work. Following up on legal cases currently in Court for an outcome. Preparing occupancy certificates. Updating the City’s online planning portal, DAMS on the status of sites inspected. Ensuring that notices are prepared and served in a right manner. Preparing affidavits in respect of all unauthorised building work
- Property owners should register for the City’s e-services via the following link https://www.capetown.gov.za/City-Connect/Register/eservices-and-municipal-accounts/Register-for-a-municipal-account to be able to make use of the DAMS online portal.
- Residents are welcome to e-mail the department on DAMS.System@capetown.gov.za should they have any queries relating to the electronic submission of building plans and land use applications.
