Human Settlements Review - Parliamentary Monitoring Group

Human Settlements Review, Volume 1, Number 1, 2010
4. Lessons learned
The utilisation of alternative building technologies
in the past six years has enabled the provincial
department to learn the following:
• Firstly, in order to upscale the use of
alternative technologies, it is vital to invest
in consumer education. Beneficiaries
need to understand the materials,
their strengths and weaknesses, and
maintenance. Also, the acceptance of
the alternative building technology by
beneficiaries should be secured prior
to commencement of construction
of houses using alternative building
technologies.
• Secondly, construction contracts should
only be awarded to providers of
alternative technologies who have
experience in housing construction
and not to companies that have an
idea but lack practical implementation
experience.
• Thirdly, although monitoring and quality
assurance is important in all construction
projects, the two are even more vital
when the construction is innovative or
using alternative building technologies.
It is important that both National Home
Builders Regulation Council (NHBRC)
and Agrément be part of the monitoring
of government houses constructed
with alternative materials or innovative
systems in order to protect the
consumers.
• Lastly, thorough feasibility studies
of local conditions should be conducted
prior to the commencement of
construction using alternative building
technologies. Complementing this,
implementing officials or agencies
should consult the full certification by
Agrément to ensure that it is suitable for
local conditions.
5. Conclusion
The pressures exerted by the demand for
adequate shelter for poor household obligated
the Gauteng Department of Local Government
and Housing to open to different construction
technologies and systems. Since 1994 the
department has engaged with alternative
building technologies and innovative systems.
Despite this, the experiences of the province
in using alternative building for low income
household has not been easy. However, the
province does not view the small delivery
through alternative building technologies as a
total failure as the years of exploration provided
excellent education in finding alternatives means
of providing adequate shelter.
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