Housing Initiatives

For the first time in history half the world's population lives in
cities. As pressure on living space grows, so does the need for affordable housing and related needs. 'City Scope' looks at some eco-friendly solutions - not all are in cities but all could be used in an urban setting.

Reed all about it, The Netherlands

Comm: "A thoroughly modern city of concrete, steel and glass.

"But just as the need for environmentally clean power re-launched cutting edge windmill technology, so the past five years have seen a major revival in a building technique many thought had no place in modern life."

Arjan Prosman: "Well some people think thatching is a dying art, but its on the contrary, in Holland we have about 300 thatching companies, altogether I think a thousand people work together on the roof, it has had a major revival over the last 5 years, because of the modern techniques."

Comm: "Once again lessons for the future can be found in the past."

Arjan Prosman: "Here we are at the home of Pete Grooneveldt in Newcope where he will show us the reed beds where our story begins."

Comm: "Behind the thatching revival is an abundant supply of reed. Dutch reed is particularly prized. Although the total harvest in the Netherlands is small compared to countries like Turkey and Romania."

Arjan Prosman: "Well there's plenty of reed around the world, almost every country has smaller or larger reed beds of its own. And many of those reed beds are not being cultivated or being used or being cropped. So there are a lot of possibilities in many countries."

Comm: "Unlike other roofing products such as slate, reed can be cropped annually, usually in the winter months. And unlike brick tiles, it needs no kiln and little energy."

Arjan Prosman: "Thatching with water reed is very environmental friendly, the reed grows back within the year so there is no damage to the wetlands or to the reed itself, and after the lifetime of the thatched roof, after 30 or 40 years, there isn't a waste product, the old reed can be taken down and composted so it returns back to the earth."

Comm: "So far, much the same as the past.

"What's new is that the benefits of reed as a roofing material are now supplemented by new techniques to combat its most serious weakness."

Architect: "Well the fear of fire was the problem. In the past there was a layer of air inbetween the thatch and the roof structure and inbetween that layer the fire could spread. But the thatch roof the way we put it on here the thatch is put on directly onto the roof panels. With these new techniques a thatched roof is less fire dangerous than in the past. There are insurance companies in Holland that are even, they are not more expensive than you will find for a tiled roof or any other roof."

Arjan Prosman: "Welcome to Middlehanus this is one of the larger building estates with approximately 140 thatched houses, the construction here has taken about 2 and a half years and it's almost finished. For each house we need approximately 15 hundred or 16 hundred bundles of reed, which adds up totally to about 150 thousand bundles, you can compare in full truck loads about 60 complete big volume trucks of reed which is an enormous quantity."

Comm: "And thatch has a major design advantage over slate or tile roofs."

Architect: "If you use thatch on a roof the nice thing about it it's a thick layer of reed or thatch, and it has an insulation value, a good insulation value, so it has the ability to keep the warmth in and the and the cold out, I don't know actually of any other material that works as fine as thatch or straw for insulation and will also give you the look youíre looking for. The look and feel of thatch is very important and if you consider the advantages you wonder why people would consider other materials."

Comm: "The perfect roof? Well, almost....."

Vox Pop: "Well we have lots of spiders."

Shacking Up, South Africa

Comm: "When the ANC was voted into power in 1994 'homes for all' was a key election promise. Several years later the housing crisis is still one of the government's biggest problems. Millions of people live in vast settlements known as shacks.

"Florence Fundiswa's shack is typical. It provides a roof for her, her three children, four sisters and one cousin. Her biggest fear is fire."

Florence Fundiswa: "It's because of fire, sometimes when you are cooking with a flame and you go outside the house is burning."

Comm: "Florence realised the only way to get a new home is to build it herself. So she and her two friends are taking part in a training course supported by DFID and run by master caster Anwar Hamza."

Anwar Hamza, Communicare and Margaret Pierson Trust: "Today we are going to have an exciting day today what we're going to do is start off with making the blocks and with this block at the end of the day you can actually build your own house."

Comm: "The women waste no time learning Anwar Hamza's tricks. Mixing the right quantities of sand, cement and grit is the key to the perfect block."

Anwar Hamza: "If you feel it the water will come up like that, you see. Now that is going to go on to the vibrating table and the air bubbles would come out of it."

Comm: "The blocks are cast in a metal mould and vibrated for one minute. Forget the gym - this is the ultimate workout. But it's not cheap. A vibrating table like this costs just over 1000 US dollars. There are other versions which work your arm muscles and for the lazy those that start at the flick of a switch. These are available from UK based Parry Associates whose details are available on the web.

"Roof construction is based on T beams and arches. The mix needed here is stronger than for bricks. And it's reinforced with three metal bars."

Anwar Hamza: "Right what we're going to do is make some arches."

Comm: "It's back to the vibrating table for another work out. This time to make the arches for the roof. They too are made of concrete. Each arch has to be left in the shade for a couple of weeks to cure before it can be used."

Anwar Hamza: "We use a concrete roof because it won't burn down. People were sceptical in the beginning where they were saying look a concrete roof it's going to be cold in the winter but they've found in winter it's not cold and in summer it's not warm."

Comm: "Cynthia Lindiwe is one of the first residents to get a new home."

Cynthia: "It's nice to live in a brick house because you can't hear
the wind, outside, the rain is not coming in and it's big enough for you and your family."

Comm: "Cynthia's house cost 56 000 rand - that's 4000 US dollars. Unlike many living in the squatter camps she has a permanent job. But for people with no access to capital a savings scheme is speeding up their chances of a new home.

"This women's group is part of a larger credit initiative."

"To get credit on the savings scheme which we have now we work with the umbrella People's Dialogue. People's Dialogue help us to get credit to build the house People's Dialogue loan us the money which we can build and repay them every month. It is very important to be part of the organisation, it teaches women to do things on their own and it helps them to understand the building procedure. We had 92 houses which we had already built but we have to build 236 houses. So any people from anywhere else can learn on what we are doing and do it for themselves."

Timber not Termites, Sri Lanka

Comm: "The coconut tree is one of Sri Lanka's natural treasures - providing milk, food and shelter. But the government is so worried about its decline it's banning its use. And it's not just coconut that's at risk."

Lionel Jayanetti, TRADA Technology: "I believe that during the last 30 years one third of the Sri Lankan forest has been depleted by direct cutting or illegal felling."

Comm: "It's not only Sri Lankan forests that are in danger. Hunger for cheap wood is so great that Sri Lanka is importing supplies."

Lionel Jayanetti: "There's a shortage of timber in the country right and at the moment Sri Lanka is importing timber from South East Asia."

Comm: "As Sri Lanka's population grows its essential to build low cost housing using locally available materials. Now TRADA technology have come up with an idea that uses thinnings from plantations."

Lionel Jayanetti: "Timber poles are not being cut from natural forests these are from forestry plantations. In forestry plantations you plant about 500 trees per acre and you are aiming at maybe 80 trees in maybe 30 to 80 years time depending on the species. So timber poles have come im between as forestry thinning and good forestry management."

Comm: "Plantation thinnings make the perfect building poles - tall, straight and round. But before they can be used they must be treated to prevent termite attack. First the poles are debarked."
"Then open tanks made from oil drums are filled with water and boron, an environmentally-friendly preservative, is added. A fire is lit to warm the solution which is stirred to ensure thorough mixing. When the temperature has reached 50 centigrade the poles are submerged in the tank and left for several hours. After cooling the poles are wrapped in polythene for two weeks. Finally, they're ready for use.

"Building with timber poles isnít difficult and demands no particular technical expertise. The poles are easily erected and provide a rigid framework to support the roof and walls. One unique feature is the pole's ability to resist the wind but the roof does have to be securely attached!

"Walls are made from cement-stabilised soil blocks and roof tiles from micro-concrete. Both can be made locally and cheaply. And because people are involved in building their homes there's an added spin off.

Lionel: "I'd suggest that other people take this up because if they do it themselves and do the plastering for themselves theyíll do it well because it belongs to them and they really value it."

Comm: "The total cost of a finished house is just 600 US dollars - half the cost of one using imported wood. So far, one thousand timber pole houses have been built in Sri Lanka. But does this technique have the potential to pole-axe other building markets?"

Lionel: "This timber pole construction technology is extremely transferable to many parts of the world. Not only in Asia we have already experienced in Africa, in Malawi and Zimbabwe where there are a lot of plantations already available. This could be applicable even to Europe, Northern America, Australia and New Zealand where already timber poles are being used for heavy construction."

Piping Success, Ecuador

Comm: "Three thousand feet above sea level in the Andes of Ecuador. It's the end of the rainy season. There's no shortage of water. But the villagers of Cachi have a different kind of water problem.

"Their village lies on a geological fault-line that makes conventional water pipes impossible. What they've discovered to combat the problem may be applicable in other Earthquake prone regions.

"A traditional underground pipeline system proved unworkable here. The constant movement of the earth caused by the fault-line used to crack the pipes. Breaks were hard to locate and repairs difficult to make. So the people of Cachi had to devise something else.

"With the help of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
the villagers came up with an unusual idea. The project began eight years ago.

Remigio Padron, Director, Proyecto Cuenca Alto Del Rio Canya: "It's impossible to use the traditional system for drinking water due to the geological fault so we decided to come up with this idea of the aerial system.

"We couldn't build a reservoir because the Indian community was against it since the site was an archeological site. They believe strongly in their culture and they respect it.

"It was the villagers who came up with the original idea. They passed pipes through the trees to their homes but they asked us to help to them make improvements so we assisted by developing/building up the system."

Comm: "Although it worked fairly well, problems began when water
pressure increased during the rainy season and split the hose pipes. And because of the geological fault-line, trees were liable to move around, causing more stress to the pipes. So IFAD incorporated a system of valves and springs to cope with the fluctuating flow of water. It also installed moveable poles at regular intervals to support the network of water pipes.

"Luz Maria works as a secretary for the drinking water project and lives with her family in Cachi village."

Luz Maria Guaman: "Thanks to this project our lives have changed
enormously. Before the community didn't have access to safe drinking water.

"It was hard work and took a long time to go and collect water but now we have safe drinking water piped directly to our homes.

"This is where we get our water supply from in Cachi. It comes from an underground spring. We take the water through these pipes into the tank over there and that's where the water gets treated with chlorine and after that it goes down to our homes to use.

Comm: "This is where the springwater is collected and treated daily with chlorine by Manuel Guaman before it flows down the aerial water pipes to the village below.

"Manuel also takes monthly meter readings so that each household pays for the service according to how much water they use."

Romigio: "I don't know of any other place that has had this idea. And we hope that we can be a model for other communities, similar to this one who could adapt this water system."

Back to the Future, India

Comm: "One of the most successful projects featured in the last series saw how low cost building techniques helped solve a chronic classroom shortage in Andra Pradesh.

"Several thousand schools later the project partners, DFID and the
Andhra Pradesh Directorate of Primary Education were asked whether the techniques could be used to meet the urgent demand for hospital buildings in Orissa."

Dr Manoranjan Dash: "When I am operating the rain water comes into the room of the OT and the winds blow in and I have to stop the operation and wait for the rain to subside. Then I have to arrange a plastic polythene over the roof by which I can stop the rainwater coming in. And we have two tables which are not working and a small window which is not working, lighting is very poor. There is also no toilet so we have to ask them to go outside to the fields."

Comm: "India has a long tradition of building but low cost techniques have been forgotten in favour of expensive modern building methods and materials. To meet the demand for hospitals in the state of Orissa using conventional methods would cost 150 million US dollars."

Meena Gupta, Secretary Health, Orissa: "One really got a feel of what cost-effective construction could be like when we were called to the DFID workshop held in so we thought it would be a good thing to translate into the health sector particularly because we were already looking into a project where maintenance of buildings equipment was a major issue."

Comm: "The Government of Orissa put up the money while DFID helped with technical assistance.The project's success depended on retraining architects and engineers in low cost methods.

Meena: "After the Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad workshop,we had a workshop to train our engineers and we called people from various organisations - including the works department and idco and others so of all of them showed a great deal of enthusiasum."

Comm: "Once confident the engineers passed on what they'd learned to the artisans. The most innovative technology used fly-ash a pollutant from the Indian power industry. Disposing of the waste by product is a national problem. But if mixed with lime and gypsum it can replace sand and make a strong building brick which has the added benefit of cutting costs by 15-20%. There's no danger of contamination from the flyash in this form as the blocks were extensively tested by the Orissa state authorities.

"One of the first hospitals, Panaspada, consumed 406 tonnes of flyash - and if the health needs of the whole state were addressed a further two million tonnes could be got rid of safely.

"Skills transfer was not one just way. While building the arched roof at Panaspada the architects agonised about how to remove the steel mould. They needn't have worried. An experienced artisan used his own initiative and took it out leaving the vault in tact.

"They didn't just exchange knowledge between themselves but drew on the techniques used in the temples for inspiration."

Meena: "It's quite interesting the way cost effective technology replicates or uses much of techniques used in temple architecture and since this is very indigenous to Orissa I think acceptance will be very easy also they look very beautiful aesthetically very pleasing - and I'm sure it will be acceptable to the community they will be very appealing."

Comm: "The architects invited the Doctors to view the site for themselves and tried to incorporate their needs while keeping costs down."

Meena: "Maintaining air conditioning is expensive now in one kind of wall that is constructed in cost effective technology the room remains very cool or its got good insulation so it would be very good for a labour room so certan things can be very ppropriately made applicable to health deptment buildings."

Comm: "It's one thing building the new hospitals. Upkeep is equally
important."

Meena: "We don't have much money for maintenance whatever little there is we can do it departmentally but it makes a lot of difference if the community takes pride in the building and takes on the responsibility of maintaining it so in that sense I think cost-effective construction is a very important step."

Comm: "What do the community think?"

Reshma, Panaspada Village: "Look at the building which is being built. A patient even while getting admitted here will get cured. He'll see the old health centre and his illness will get worse."