Human Settlements Review - Parliamentary Monitoring Group

Human Settlements Review, Volume 1, Number 1, 2010
The technical objectives are aimed at
achieving a good quality and durable dwelling
structure. Quality can be described in terms of
housing attributes. Becker (2002: 926, Table
2), amongst others, provides a list of housing
attributes. The national building regulations
and design codes, for example, SANS
10400:1990 The Application of the National
Building Regulation, usually provide for design
and construction procedures to meet the
performance requirements of these attributes.
In general, though, it should be demonstrated
on a factual and technical basis that can
be substantiated and verified by means of
tests, calculations performed in terms of
appropriate design codes of practice, or from
first principles that the construction system,
materials, element or components satisfy the
performance requirements (SAICE, 2000: 1-1)
enlisted by the housing attributes.
In this study, the housing attributes were
considered as the technical criteria. Not all
the attributes were taken into account, only
the ones given in Table 5 were considered as
appropriate. This was because these aspects
are considered to be influenced the most by
the type of building technology employed and
as being the minimum requirements (SAICE,
2000: 1-1).
Table 5: Building technology – Technical criteria
Technical objective
Performance (quality)
Technical criteria
Durability
Thermal and condensation
Structural strength and stability
Behaviour during fire
Water penetration and rising damp
Structural serviceability
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