A worker applies plaster on a house in Mavoko. The panel technology can reduce the cost of building a house by upto 20 per cent. CORRESPONDENT
The National Housing Corporation (NHC) is testing the use of low-cost building technology that has the potential to cut the price of construction by up to 20 per cent.
Known as expanded polystyrene panel technology, it involves building houses by assembling ready made panels made of plastic core, sandwiched between a steel wire mesh that is plastered on both sides.
The move could enable more Kenyans to access affordable housing.
“We expect this to cut the cost of financing housing projects while reducing the time taken to finish the projects,” said National Housing Corporation managing director, James Ruitha. High costs of construction have dampened growth in the housing sector.
Data from City Hall shows that the number of new construction projects in the city went down 14 per cent in the first five months of the year to 1,136 plans from 1,322 plans last year.
The value of building plans approved by City Hall however increased by 34 per cent to Sh77 billion up in the first five months of the year up from Sh50 billion.
The panel technology is also expected to reduce time taken to construct houses to about two to three weeks for a standard three bed-roomed house and cut costs by upto 20 per cent.
The corporation has embarked on making a sample houses using the technology at its Mavoko site and the usual concrete houses of the same design.
So far the technology has proved to cut time taken to put up housing by up to 50 per cent and reduce the cost by about 20 per cent.
Contractors however said cultural socialisation could affect uptake of the technology by Kenyans.
“The technology could take long before it is accepted since a permanent house means brick and motor to most Kenyans,” said Joash Maangi, a business development manager at Lemna International, a US contractor.
The panel technology can build structures of up to 20 storeys high, which might help in reducing the high levels of under-investment in the housing market.
The corporation is also in the process of setting up a factory that will manufacture the panels in Mavoko municipality to allow mass production of such houses.
The factory will be commissioned in December while mass production of the panels is set for January next year.
Cement maker Athi River Mining (ARM) said even though the technology could reduce the use of cement, the commodity is still important in making house frames and foundations.
“Sections such as the foundation and frames would still need steel and cement,” said Surendra Bahtia, deputy managing director, Athi River Mining.
The cross section of the panels is polystyrene core, with steel wire mesh on both sides, then plastered on both sides.
The managing director at NHC said that the cost of labour will come down significantly as one only needs assembling services and not necessarily a trained artisan.
The cost of transporting materials is also set to sink as a developer can deliver an entire house in a single lorry. The panels also have good insulation.
