Craig Makapela
Executive Manager: Engineering and Technical Services at the National Homebuilders Registration Council (NHBRC).
South Africa is one of few countries in the world that has programmes for developing and boosting low-income housing. In a country marked by insufficient housing to cater for those living in informal settlements and whose finances are constrained, conventional building technologies are compromising and stalling the delivery of low cost homes given the high cost of construction materials.
New technologies are viewed, therefore, as a saving grace, for not only can they add value to improving structural build at a cost advantage, but they also embrace the green building economy, which has the added benefit of responding to the country’s climate change goals.
The Eric Molobi Innovation Hub, situated in Soshanguve, North of Pretoria, was built to innovate in the design, construction, manpower and material usage, technology, and training within the low-cost housing sector. Its objective is to better the lives of the most vulnerable by providing affordable and quality homes and contribute to better housing delivery through two specific pillars: the building of houses using innovative building technologies (IBT); and a Construction Testing Laboratory and Training Centre.
“Our objective is to undertake research on building systems we identify as sound but which must ultimately comply with the strictest building standards, including those that respond to the global green built environment,” says the NHBRC’s Craig Makapela, who is Executive Manager: Engineering and Technical Services. “Only once these methodologies have been certified can we recommend them to the market.”
Currently, the Hub hosts some 24 different housing typologies, all of which have been tested for performance and durability using specialised equipment. However, some of the ‘test’ houses are about to be demolished given they have provided enough data for the NHBRC to produce a report detailing their performance, and recommendations for the uptake and usage of the innovations in the built environment.
When those innovations go to market, included are alternative energy systems which have been applied to walling, water, and sanitation construction methods, and of course, solar. Observations of carbon emissions and energy efficiency protocols have also featured strongly in recent years. Replacing the demolished houses, will be new test homes. These will use and test the most contemporary and green technologies, which must also prove their value in their adaptation to the different weather climates in the country.
Makapela says that the NHBRC is also taking the Construction Testing Laboratory to a new level, in the application for accreditation that will facilitate the NHBRC’s ability to test materials from construction sites. “This accreditation will also allow us to present remedial solutions to home builders that use substandard materials, bearing in mind that the NHBRC’s mandate is to ensure quality homes.”
Absa was involved with the Eric Molobi Innovation Hub at its inception. Absa CEO at the time, Steven Booysen, committed the bank to a joint project with the NHBRC; a Housing Innovation Competition, aiming to showcase, through the use of innovative housing systems, a wide choice of quality, aesthetically pleasing affordable homes.
This starts with the NHBRC’s inspection of home builds to ensure that even low-cost housing is of the best possible standard and quality. “Our testing at the Construction Testing Laboratory is undertaken at no cost, which allows emerging and disadvantaged home builders to achieve the best result with their build without needing to dig too deep into their finances,” says Makapela.
This feeds well into the Eric Molobi Innovation Hub’s other arm, which is the Martha Molobi (Eric’s wife) Training Centre. The focus is on the youth, women, persons living with disability and emerging home builders and technical professionals, who are provided with the tools to work in the industry, particularly where IBT developments are underway. This programme extends across the country, which since 2008 has trained over 15 000 learners, facilitating new skills acquisition among underprivileged people.
The Hub is open to the public, and universities are common visitors where they test their research work for later endorsement and support by international institutions. Global and local conferences and workshops are also hosted on site, to discuss and decide on innovative building technologies. “We are also assisting with direction and procurement of temporary housing systems following natural disasters, such as the 2021 floods in KwaZulu-Natal where 12 000 homes were destroyed, and 40 000 people displaced,” says Makapela.
“Importantly, we are driven to ensure we assist in addressing the country’s housing backlog but without compromising under-privileged people’s right to quality and safe housing. This embraces the culture of Shelter for All, which as Absa’s managing executive of Home Loans, Nondumiso Ncapi highlights, is not purely about basic human rights, but inspires hope and drives economically-viable communities.”