Industry chiefs see solution, hope for mass housing in dry construction

Investors, developers and sundry stakeholders in the Nigerian building industry have hailed the introduction of the dry construction system into the industry, saying it holds out solution to, and hope for mass housing with its speed, efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the long run.

Apart from cost which is fundamental to any form of housing delivery, most investors and developers avoid mass housing due to the long delivery period associated with wet or traditional building method.

“The building industry is challenged by three fundamental issues of land titling, funding and construction methodology”, Hakeem Oguniran, MD, AUC Property Development Company (UPDC), noted at the unveiling of the Kalsi Dry Construction System manufactured by Nigerite Nigeria Limited.

Oguniran pointed out that whereas the first two challenges have had some form of government intervention through a downward review of land charges from 13 percent to 3 percent in Lagos State, and the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) by the Federal Government, there has been no attempt from that direction to address the problem of building method.

Any initiative therefore, that will take us away from the traditional way of building and also support efforts at reducing our housing deficit should be commended and encouraged. We are still studying this method, but I hope Kalsi will bring about speed and efficiency in our housing delivery system”, he said.

Adeyeye Ogunwusi, the MD/CEO of Gran Imperio Group—developers of the Lakeview Park Estate and the Inagbe Grand Resort in Lagos, disclosed that his company had been working with the new system in the past two years, adding that using the new construction method does not only drive speed and efficiency, but also construction cost which comes down by about 20 percent.

“Dry Construction system is a response to the call for energy efficiency in building construction; it is a fast growing technology all over the world”, said  Adewale Ogungbe, Nigerite’s Head, Dry Construction Business Unit, adding that the system had high impact and was fire-resistant.

“Whatever an architect conceives in terms of design, Kalsi can achieve,” he said, explaining that Kalsi boards were manufactured from cement, quartz, cellulose, natural calcium silicate and water, and was processed under high pressure and temperature for durability and dimensional stability.

Explaining that the new system was not a replacement for the traditional method of brick and mortar, Frank Le Bris, the company’s MD/CEO, posited that it was a cheaper and quicker means of building just as it was the future of building technology.

“Since we cannot run away from tomorrow, why not bring tomorrow to today if we have the means. The world over, dry construction is gaining ground”, he said, stating that the system was developed to augment the efforts to cover up the housing deficit in Nigeria.

“It is common knowledge that housing deficit in Nigeria today is close to 20 million; this solution is being introduced as one of the fastest means of bridging this gap since it takes pretty few days to construct from start to finish. It ensures cleaner environment at construction sites and thus points to our avowed commitment to environment friendliness and it costs less in the final analysis,” he said.

CHUKA UROKO