New building technologies leave developers with housing delivery choices
Emerging alternative building technologies in Nigeria have left estate developers with housing delivery choices, especially as calls to explore other construction methods to bridge the country’s 17 million housing units deficit gathers momentum.
Already, the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development is employing one of these new technologies for its housing delivery with the Kuje housing estate in Abuja as a pilot scheme with the hope of offering real estate developers fresh breath in housing delivery.
The new technologies which include Plasswall and Plassmolite technology, Hydraform technology and Light gauge steel technology have the capacity to simultaneously improve housing delivery speed and also reduce overall cost.
Akon Eyakenyi, minister of Lands, Housing and Urban development said in Abuja recently that the new technologies would significantly aid current efforts at housing delivery in the country if employed by private developers.
Eyakenyi explained that at the Kuje housing scheme where the Light Gauge Steel Technology is currently in use, 15 workers can conveniently deliver two blocks of three bedroom bungalow in 10 days after the foundation level.
To effectively leverage the new technology, the minister revealed that a steel production factory to facilitate construction process has been cited at the construction site, adding that the factory can produce components for two housing units within 24 hours.
The recent move by the ministry of housing is expected to berth a new experience in the country’s housing sector, where real estate developers have continued to drag their feet in embracing alternative building systems despite its immense advantages.
Ronald Ashkin, Technical Director, GEMS had in a forum in Lagos stressed that there is a need for stakeholders in the built industry to migrate from conventional construction method which has not yielded the expected result, to alternative building systems.
The alternative building system, according to Ashkin, not only delivers housing at reduced costs but within a shorter period, when compared to the regular wet construction method. Hence, the system can easily stimulate the supply chain to move faster, and consequently reduce the current housing deficit.
“These alternative building methods are cheaper. An example is the case of using bricks instead of concrete blocks, which is cheaper and affords developers the opportunity to deliver houses within a shorter period”, he said.
Supporting his view, Sam Odia, National Director, Fuller Center for Housing, stressed that alternative building systems or dry construction can save as much as 70 percent of a developers time when compared to wet construction.
Onovre also revealed that machines and all the necessary technology needed for the implementation of dry construction are currently available in the country, as the issue of importation does not arise.
ODINAKA MBONU